YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of the
Yale Theological Seminary

c
HULSEAN LECTURES
fob, 1827.

ON
THE PROOFS OF
DIVINE POWER and WISDOM
DERIVED FROM THE STUDY OF

ASTRONOMY

AND ON THE

EVIDENCE, DOCTRINES, and PRECEPTS
OF
REVEALED RELIGION.

Rev. TEMPLE CITEVALLIER, M.A.
LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF CATHARINE HALL.

CAMBRIDGE:
Printed by J. Smith, Printer to the University.
FOR J. & J. J. DEIGHTON, CAMBRIDGE;
AND C. & J. R1VINGT0N, LONDON.
1827

C4Z

TO
THE REVEREND
WILLIAM FRENCH, D.D.
MASTER OF JESUS COLLEGE,
THE FOLLOWING LECTURES
ARE INSCRIBED;
AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT
FOR HIS PUBLIC CHARACTER,
AND
AS A MEMORIAL
OF PRIVATE FRIENDSHIP,
BY
THE AUTHOR.

Substance of certain CLAUSES in the WILL
of the Rev. J. HULSE, m.a. dated July 21,
1777.He founds a Lectureship in the University of
Cambridge.
The Lecturer is to be a " Clergyman in the University
of Cambridge, of the degree of Master of Arts, and under
the age of forty years." He is to be elected annually,
" on Christmas-day, or within seven days after, by the
Vice-Chancellor for the time being, and by the Master of
Trinity College, and the Master of Saint John's College,
or any two of them." In case the Master of Trinity, or
the Master of Saint John's be the Vice-Chancellor, the
Greek Professor is to be the third Trustee.
The duty of the said Lecturer is "to preach twenty
Sermons in the whole year, that is to say, ten Sermons
during the months of April, and May, and the two first
weeks in June ; and likewise ten Sermons during the
months of September, and October, and during the two
first weeks of November."
The place of preaching, is to be " Saint Mary's Great
Church in Cambridge :" and the time, " either on the
Friday morning, or else on Sunday afternoon."
The subject of the said Discourses is to be, "the
Evidence for Revealed Religion ; the truth and excellence
of Christianity ; Prophecies and Miracles ; direct or col
lateral proofs of the Christian religion, especially the col
lateral arguments; the more difficult texts or obscure parts,
of the Holy Scriptures ;" or any one or more of these
topics, at the discretion of the Preacher. The subject of
the said Discourses is not to be " any particular sects or
controversies amongst Christians themselves; except some

V!

new and dangerous error, either of superstition, or enthu
siasm, as of Popery or Methodism, or the like, either in
opinion or practice, shall prevail. And in all the said
twenty Sermons, such practical observations shall be made,
and such useful conclusions added, as may best instruct
and edify mankind."
"The said twenty Sermons are to be every year
printed," at the Preacher's expence, "and a new Preacher
elected, (except in the case of the extraordinary merit of
the Preacher, when it may sometimes be thought proper
to continue the same person for five or, at the most, for
six years together, but for no longer term) nor shall he
ever afterwards be again elected to the same duty.

"An Abstract of the heads or material parts" of the
WILL of the Rev. John Hulse, relative to the two
Scholarships, founded by him in St. John's College,
and by him directed to be added to the conclusion of
the foregoing clauses, " so that such Clergyman, or
persons, whom the same may concern, may know that
there are such endowments, of which they may claim
and take the benefit, under the regulations, and with
the qualifications, therein mentioned."
The Scholars are to be " Undergraduates of St. John's
College, who shall be born in the county palatine of
Chester." " Such Scholar is to be elected by the Master
and a majority of the senior Fellows of the said College
on Christmas-day, or in the first seven days after," and
candidates are to have the preference, in the order, and
with the limitations specified in the following extracts.

Vll

1. "The son of any Clergyman, who shall at any
time officiate as Curate to the Vicar of Sandbach ; or
next to him the son of any Vicar or Curate, who shall
then live and officiate in the parish of Middlewich, as the
proper Minister or Curate of Middlewich; or lastly of
any Minister or Curate of the Chapel of Witton, or who
shall reside and live in the town of Northwich or Witton,
or the adjacent townships of Castle Northwich and
Winnington, and shall do the duty of the said Chapel as
the proper Minister of Witton (all of them in the said
county of Chester.)"
2. " And in default of such persons, then the son of
any other Clergyman, who (that is which son) shall be
born in either of the said parishes of Sandbach or Middle
wich, or in the said Chapelry of Middlewich, shall have
the preference. And if none shall be admitted, then
the son of any other Clergyman shall be preferred, who
(that is which son) shall be born in the said county
of Chester, and next in any of the four following
counties of Stafford, Salop, Derby, or Lancaster; or
lastly, elsewhere in any other county or part of England,
provided that it shall appear that the Clergyman who is
father to such Scholar is not, if living, or, if dead, was
not at the time of his death possessed of any spiritual pre
ferment of more than one hundred and forty pounds
a year, clear income ; or whose income in every respect
shall not exceed the clear yearly value of two hundred
pounds in the whole.1'
" But if no son of any Clergyman, so entitled as
aforesaid, shall be elected into such Scholarship, the same
shall be given to the son of some lay person, whose clear
yearly income does not, if living, and, if dead, did not at
the . time of his death amount to more than two hundred
pounds; and such son being born in the counties of
Chester, Stafford, Salop, Derby, and Lancaster, the
counties in that order having a preference; or lastly,
elsewhere in England."

Vill

" And such Scholar, whether the son of a Clergyman,
or Layman, to be elected in manner aforesaid, shall
continue to enjoy this my benefaction until he shall take,
or be of standing to take his first degree of Bachelor of
Arts, unless some other person, being the son of some
of the officiating ministers at some of the Churches
or Chapels before mentioned, and otherwise qualified
as aforesaid, and which qualification, had he been a
member of the said College at the time the party in
possession of the Scholarship has been elected, would
have been entitled to the preference, shall be admitted a
member of the said College ; in which case the Scholar,
who shall then be in possession, shall only hold the same
for that year ; and the other, with a prior right, shall be
elected to the same the year following. And I do appoint
the Master and senior Fellows of St. John's College
Trustees for the said Scholarships."

PREFACE.

I he following Discourses were delivered
before the University of Cambridge, in the
year 1827, at the Lecture founded by the
Rev. John Hulse; and are now published,
in compliance with the terms of his Will.
The nineteenth Psalm has been adopted
as the model for the arrangement of the first
twelve Lectures.
The first four treat of some of the more
obvious proofs of Divine Power and Wisdom,
suggested by the study of Astronomy. It was
originally my intention to have added, in the
Appendix, an explanation of some of the less
familiar circumstances, to which allusion is
made in these Lectures. But further consi
deration shewed, that to carry this into effect
would require a treatise of far greater length,
than the limited time allowed for publication
would permit me to prepare. I have, conse
quently, been obliged to presume, that the

X PREFACE.
reader is acquainted with those facts, and with
the consequences which flow from the law of
gravitation; and have, in most instances, re
ferred to works which treat upon the subjects
in question. In the Appendix will be found,
a brief notice of the Hindu systems of Chro
nology, and of a few other points, to which a
reference is made in the fourth Lecture.
The eight following Lectures treat, in the
order of the Psalm, of the advantages of
revealed religion, the proofs by which it is
established, and the duties it is designed to
teach. The remaining eight Lectures are of
a miscellaneous nature.
In retiring from the office of Hulsean
Lecturer, I may be permitted to join with
my predecessors in the hope, that some mo
dification may be made in the arduous duties
which are now required. The labour of pre
paring twenty Lectures for preaching and pub
lication, in the course of a year, is too great
to allow the Lecturer sufficient time for care
in the composition, and for revising what he
has written. If the delivery of the Lectures

PREFACE. XI
be considered a matter of importance, it is far
from desirable that it should take place on the
Friday morning; a time, when the attendance of
the University is generally prevented by other
necessary engagements. Neither is it to be
expected, that the University pulpit can be
appropriated to these Lectures, on the Sunday
afternoon, during the great portion of the
academical year which they occupy.
It would be presumption in me to sug
gest the most eligible means of enabling the
Lecturer more effectually to fulfil the spirit
of the Founder's Will : but all, who consider
the duties of his office, will acknowledge that
some change is necessary, either in the number
of Lectures required, or in the time allowed
previous to publication.

CONTENTS.

PART I.
ON THE PROOFS OF DIVINE POWER AND
WISDOM DERIVED FROM THE STUDY OF
ASTRONOMY. Lecture I.
The Power of God displayed in the Heavens.
Psalm xix. 1 — 6. The heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work.
Day unto day uttereth speech; and night unto
night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world. In
them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which
is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His
going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his
circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing
hid from the heat thereof.
General division of the nineteenth Psalm  p. 2.
Analysis of the first six verses  ibid.
The gradual progress of astronomical knowledge  p. 3.
The study of the heavens has led to errors of two kinds :
1. Judicial astrology  p. 5.
2. The denial of final causes  6.

XIV CONTENTS.
The study of astronomy affords proofs of Divine Power... p. 9'
It offers a scale, by which we can compare successive
degrees of magnitude, in the works of creation. . . .p. 10.
I. The magnitude of the earth compared with that of the
solar system  p. 11.
II. The dimensions of the solar system compared with those
of the cluster of stars, in which it is placed  p. 13.
III. That part of the universe compared with other remoter
portions  p. 14.
Conclusion  16".

Lecture II.
The Wisdom of God displayed in the Heavens.
Psalm xix. 1 — 6. The heavens declare the glory of
God, and. the firmament sheweth his handy work.
Day unto day uttereth speech ; and night unto
night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world. In
them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which
is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His
going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his
circuit unto the ends of it : and there is nothing
hid from the heat thereof.
Marks of design infer a designer  -p_ 18
The study of astronomy is not adapted, so immediately as
some other branches of natural philosophy, to furnish
proofs of design  „ jq
The force of gravity, and the law of its variation, affords
a proof of design  p 22
Advantages derived from the force of gravitation  23.
The law of gravitation is not a necessary condition of every
force which tends to a center  p. "4.

CONTENTS. XV
Advantages derived from the law of gravitation  p. 25.
Spheres attract one another with forces which vary in the
same law  p. 26.
Stability of the solar system  27-
1. The mean distances of the planets are subject only to
small periodical variations  p. 29-
2. The eccentricity of the several orbits of the planets is
subject only to a small periodical change  p. 30.
3. The axis of rotation of each of the planets is a permanent
axis  p. 31.
4. The inclination of the several orbits of the planets to
a fixed plane, is subject only to a small periodical
change  p. 32.
The motions originally impressed upon the planetary bodies
were such, as were required to produce results obviously
beneficial  p. 34.
All these circumstances infer design  36.
Lecture III.
The Wisdom of God displayed in the Heavens
and upon the Earth.
Psalm xix. 1 — 6. The heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work.
Day unto day uttereth speech ; and night unto
night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
aud their words to the end of the world. In
them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which
is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His
going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his
circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing
hid from the heat thereof.
1. The vicissitudes of seasons, and the alternation of day and
night, are adapted to the necessities of the creatures
which exist upon the earth  ."  p. 3g.

XVI CONTENTS.
2. The mean temperature of the earth  p. 41 .
3. The relative density of water — the consequent stability of
equilibrium of the ocean  p. 42.
4. The division of the surface of the earth into land and
water  p. 45.
5. The atmosphere .,  47-
6. The proportion between sea and land  49-
7- The magnitude of the tides  51.
8. The rotation of the secondary planets upon their axes, in
the same time in which they respectively revolve about
their primary planets  p. 53.
9. The central body alone luminous  56.
10. The rings of the planet Saturn . . . . :  57-
1 1 . Numerical relation between the respective mean motions
of the satellites of the planet Jupiter  p. 59-

Lecture IV.
Consideration of the objections to natural and
revealed Religion, which have been drawn
from astronomical principles.
Psalm xix. 1 — 6. The heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work.
Day unto day uttereth speech ; and night unto
night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech
nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world. In
them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which
is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His
going forth is from the end of the heaven, and
his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is
nothing hid from the heat thereof.
I. Theories which have been framed, with the intention of
removing the necessity of supposing an intelligent
Creator.

CONTENTS. XVU
i. Buffon's theory  p. 61.
It does not solve the phenomena  ibid.
If true, it would not exclude a designing Creator, p. 62.
2. La Place's theory  ibid.
Its difficulties  p. 66.
If the relative density of the Earth were not altered, the
relation between the time of the Earth's rotation
and the Moon's periodic time, is not such as to satisfy
the conditions of this theory  ibid.
Nor the time of Saturn's rotation compared with that
of its ring  p. 67.
The satellites of the planet Herschel move in directions
incompatible with this theory  p. 68.
The central body being luminous, is a fact, inexplicable
under the supposed conditions, except by design. ibid.
This theory, if true, would not exclude a designing
Creator : but implies an intelligent agent  p. 69.
II. Objection against the probability of any Divine revela
tion, from the comparative minuteness of the earth,
considered  p. 71.
III. Objections against the particular Revelation, which man
has received.
1. Alleged antiquity of Chinese astronomy  p. 74.
2. Alleged antiquity of Hindu astronomy  75.
The astronomical systems of the Hindus are of compara
tively recent date  p. 76.
Their chronological system is evidently artificial. . 80.
The Hindu astronomical systems confirm the Mosaic
history  81^
3. Alleged antiquity of Egyptian astronomy.
Notice of the astronomical sculptures discovered near
Thebes  p. 82.
IV. The union of the love of science with feelings of piety,
exemplified in
Newton  p. 83.
Horrox  '.  <  , . 84.

XVlli

PART II.
ON THE PERFECTION AND CERTAINTY OF
REVEALED RELIGION.

Lecture V.
The Perfection of the Law of God.
Psalm xix. 7- The Law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul.
I. The word of God given by indisputable authority .p. 89
II. It is directed to the regulation of the heart  94
III. It provides remedies for guilt  95
1. Promise of pardon  97
2. Assurance of Divine grace  100
IV. It is itself an active agent  102
Conclusion  104

Lecture VI.
On the Evidences of Revealed Religion ; and
its practical application.
Psalm xix. 7- The testimony of the Lord is sure;
making wise the simple.
It is requisite that the authority of a Revelation should be
established by sufficient proof  p. ioq.
I. Outline of the evidence for the authenticity and inspira
tion of the sacred writings.

CONTENTS. XIX
1. The books of the New Testament are the genuine
productions of the persons whose names they bear :
or, at least, give a correct account of the events which
they relate  p. 110.
This fact is proved, by historical testimony  p. 111.
by internal evidence  112.
2. The miracles of Christ established by testimony . . 113.
The miracles of Christ prove his divine commission. p. 115.
Allusions to miraculous powers, exercised by the Apostles
themselves, prove their possession of those powers. p. 115.
The truth of our religion is established by the miracles,
both of Christ, and his Apostles  p. 116.
3. The prophecies of Christ confirm his divine mission. ibid.
Hence a Revelation has been made by Christ : and the
testimony of himself and his Apostles is sure .p. 117-
4. The Apostles taught the inspiration of the books of the
New Testament.
Inspiration of those books, in which the authority of an
Apostle is alleged  ibid.
Inspiration of those books, in which the authority of an
Apostle is implied  ibid.
The presumption, that the writings of the Apostles
were inspired, from the fact that their preaching was
inspired  p. 119-
Inspiration of those books not written by an Apostle. p. 122.
The nature of this inspiration was, at least, such as to
prevent essential error  ibid.
5. Divine authority of the Old Testament recognized by
the writers of the New Testament  p. 123.
6. The canon of the Old Testament the same as that re
ferred to by the writers of the New Testament . . . ibid.
Testimony of Josephus  p. 124.
Care with which the Jews kept the Scriptures. . . 125.
Samaritan Pentateuch, and Septuagint Version . . 126-
b 2

XX CONTENTS.
7. The prophecies of the Old Testament establish its Divine
authority  p. 127
Prophecies are not conjectural  13°
Prophecies do not arise from ambiguous expressions p. 131
II. The Scriptures are adapted to "make wise the simple.' p. 132
Practical religion easy to be understood  134.
The frame of rriind with which revealed religion should
be studied  P- 135.
Lecture VII.
The Rectitude, Purity, Integrity, and Truth
of Revealed Religion.
Psalm xix. 8, 9- The statutes of the Lord are
right; rejoicing the heart. The commandment
of the Lord is pure ; enlightening the eyes. The
fear of the Lord is clean ; enduring for ever. The
judgments of the Lord are true; and righteous
altogether.
I. 1. The Scriptures afford a plain, rational, and consistent
rule of life  p. 137.
Contrast afforded by the uncertainty which pervaded
the writings of heathen moralists  p. 140.
2. The Scriptures " rejoice the heart"  141.
II. Purity of revealed religion  144.
Purity of Christ's character  145.
Purity of the precepts of the Scriptures  1 46.
III. Revealed religion is free from superstition; and con
tinues the same from age to age  p. 147.
IV. Revealed religion is true and just.
1. Opposed to all falsehood  152.
2. Its promises and threatenings are sure  I5g.
3. The Christian dispensation peculiarly styled "The
Truth"  p. 154-
4. Revealed religion opposed to hypocrisy  155.

CONTENTS. XXJ
Lecture VIII.
The Advantage and Pleasure derived from the
Study of the Scriptures.
Psalm xix. 10. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than
honey, and the honeycomb.
The attentive study of revealed religion offers both profit
and pleasure  p. 157.
I. The study of the Scriptures, leading to a religious life,
is, as an object of pursuit, preferable to riches.
1. Religion supersedes the want of earthly riches. . .p. 15g.
2. It is never sought in vain  ibid.
3. Its advantages are unfading  p. 1 60.
4. Advancement in religion is a certain good  ibid.
II. The study and practice of religion preferable to earthly
pleasure  p. 162.
The advantages of the practice of religion to be subse
quently considered. . . . . :  p. 163.
The study of the Scriptures is attended with high gratifi
cation.
1. The style of the sacred writings  ibid.
2. The subjects treated of offer a noble field of contem
plation  p. 165.
(1) They exercise the understanding  ibid.
(2) They delight the imagination  p. 168.
(3) They engage the affections  173.
•Conclusion  176.
Lecture IX.
The Warnings and Promises of the Scriptures.
Psalm xix. 11. Moreover by them is thy servant
warned: and in keeping of them there is great
reward.
All lawgivers have attempted to govern men's actions by
the fear of punishment, or the hope of reward  p. 178.

XX11 CONTENTS.
I. The Scriptures warn and enlighten mankind ;
1. By history  p- 180.
national  181-
individual  1 83-
2. By the assurance of future judgment  184.
3. By the promise of spiritual aid  187-
II. The Scriptures promise great reward  191-
1 . Religious habits promote present happiness  ibid.
Health  p. 192.
Peace of mind  ibid.
Esteeem of the good  p. 193-
2. Religion converts even privation into a blessing. ibid.
3. Religion promises-the rewards of a future life. . . p. 195.
Conclusion  196,

PART III.
PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM SIN AND
INNOCENCE OF LJFE.
Lecture X.
Secret Faults.
Psalm xix. 12. Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
I. The existence of secret faults.
1 . Since obedience to God's word must be imperfect, p. 200.
2. Faults rendered secret by our own negligence... 203.
3. Faults rendered secret by the carelessness arising
from long continuance in sin  p. g04.
II. The discovery of secret faults.
1 . By self examination  gne-
2. By advice of others  2f)_
III. The means, by which we may hope to be cleansed from
secret faults  _ 20„

CONTENTS. XX111
Lecture XI.
Presumptuous Sins.
Psalm xix. 13. Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins ; let them not have dominion
over me : then shall I be upright ; and I shall be
innocent from the great transgression.
I. Presumptuous sins are those committed against sufficient
warning  p. 215.
1. Actions commonly considered crimes  ibid.
2. Sins known to be forbidden in Scripture  p. 216.
3. Sins arising from voluntary ignorance  218.
4. Sins committed against the warning of conscience. 219-
5. Sins committed under the hope of eventual impunity. ibid.
II. Consequences of Presumptuous sins.
1. They gain dominion over a man  p. 220.
2. They produce hardness of heart  224.
3. They are sometimes visited with judgment even in
this world   p. 225.
III. Presumptuous sins to be avoided, through the grace of
God, which is to be sought by earnest prayer, p. 226.
Lecture XII.
Purity of Words and Thoughts.
Psalm xix. 14. Let the words of my mouth, and
the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy
sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
I. Purity of words is violated ;
1. By open profaneness  .p. 231.
2. By treating the Holy Scriptures, and any thing belong
ing to religion, with irreverence  p. 234.
3. By neglecting, or carelessly performing, the duty of
prayer  p. 237-
II. Importance of religious meditation  241.
The grace of God will not be withheld from those who
earnestly endeavour to obtain it  p. 242.
Conclusion  243.

XXIV CONTENTS.
PART IV-
MISCELLANEOUS DISCOURSES.
Lecture XIII.
On the Omnipresence of God.
Psalm cxxxix. *], 8, 9, 10. Whither shall I go from
thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence ?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if
I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell
in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there
shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall
hold me.
I. The Omnipresence of God as displayed in his works.
p. 246.
II. The Omnipresence of God as declared in his word. 253.
Practical conclusions  256.
Lecture XIV.
On the Scriptural estimate of Talent.
Psalm cxi. 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom: a good understanding have all they
that do his commandments: his praise endureth
for ever.
Great natural talents peculiarly liable to abuse  p. 266.
The fear of the Lord the principal part of true wisdom. p. 268.
This wisdom attainable by all  2,71.
The reward of this proficiency certain and eternal .... 275.
Conclusion  g-n-

CONTENTS. XXV

Lecture XV.

Reflections on the Rainbow, as the Sign of
a covenant with Noah.
Gen. ix. 14. It shall come to pass, when I bring a
cloud upon the earth, that the bow shall be seen
in the cloud.
Reflections on the history of Noah  ..p. 281.
The fact has been allegorically interpreted  285.
Question whether the bow was ever seen before the
Deluge  p. 286.
Instances in which the remedy is, in a similar manner,
associated with the disorder.
1. The first promise of " the Seed of the woman." p. 290.
2. The Eucharist ordained to commemorate the death
of Christ  p. 292.
3. Religion peculiarly adapted to give consolation in
the time of affliction  p. 295.
The Rainbow reminds us of heavenly glory  300.

Lecture XVI.
On the Love of life.
Job ii. 4. All that a man hath will he give for
his life.
The love of fife a general feeling  p. 302.
1. It affords a presumption that a change has taken place
in the nature of man  p. 304.
2. The love of life is an earnest of immortality  309.
3. It should teach us to aspire to the life immortal. . 313-

CONTENTS.

Lecture XVII.
The Necessity of being doers of the Word, and
not hearers only.
James i. 22 — 25. Be ye doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if
any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is
like unto a man beholding his natural face in a
glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way,
and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man is
blessed in his deed.
Explanation of the Apostle's instruction  p. 318.
Description of a forgetful hearer  , 323.
Description of the doer of the word  325.
Conclusion  328.

Lecture XVIII.
On the Resurrection of Christ.
1 Coe. xv. 14. If Christ be not raised, then is our
preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
I. The fact of the resurrection proved  p. ggg,
II. The resurrection of Christ a pledge of our own resur
rection  „ gOIT
III. The resurrection of Christ gives us an assurance of
future judgment  p 342
IV. The resurrection of Christ an inducement to holiness
oflife  p. 344.
Conclusion  „ .r-

CONTENTS. XXVH
Lecture XIX.
The Power of Christ in Heaven and Earth.
Matth. xxviii. 18. Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto me, in heaven, and
in earth.
Comprehensiveness of the assertion  p. 349-
I. All power given to Christ in heaven  351.
1 . The Divine nature thus ascribed to him  352.
2. His general power  353.
3. His power as intercessor  355.
II. All power given to Christ upon earth.
1. His consequent claim to our obedience  356.
2. His claim to our gratitude  357-
3. He is the spiritual head of his church  358.
Lecture XX.
The Origin and general Design of Christianity.
Tit. ii. 11 — 14. The grace of God, that bringeth
salvation, hath appeared unto all men; Teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we
should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world : Looking for that blessed hope, and
the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ ; Who gave himself for us,
that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of
good works.
I. General design of Christianity  p. 365.
1. Its origin, the grace of God  ibid.
2. Its end, the salvation of all men  p. 366.
II. Positive and negative precepts  367-

xxviii contents.
1. (I) To deny ungodliness  P- 367-
(2) To deny worldly lusts  368.
2. (1) To live soberly  369.
(2) To live righteously  370.
(3) To live godly  371-
III. Motives of obedience  373.
1 . To look for " that blessed hope."  ibid.
2. To look for "the glorious appearing" of our great God
and Saviour Jesus Christ  375.
IV. The object of Christ's sacrifice <  378.
1. His sacrifice was voluntary  379-
2. It was made " that he might redeem us from all ini
quity."  p. 380.
3. That " he might purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works."  ibid.

contents. xxix

APPENDIX.

Note A, on Lecture IV. p. 67-
On the change produced in the time of rotation of
a mass, in consequence of its condensation or
expansion  p. 385

Note B, on Lectuee IV. p. 75-
On the Chronology and Astronomy of the Hindus, p. 390
Opinion of Sir W. Jones and others respecting their alleged
periods  ibid.
Their division of Chronology into four ages  p. 391
The artificial construction of their periods ;
According to "the Institutes of Menu."  p. 392
According the Surya Siddhanta  394
Alleged age of the Surya Siddhanta  396
Bailly's " Astronomie Orientale et Indienne."  397
J. Bentley's " Historical View of Hindu Astronomy." ibid.
Rise and Progress of Astronomy in India, according to that
Work  p. 398
The time when the different systems were introduced, de
termined by internal evidence  p. 399
The selection of the numbers 71 and 14 in their system
shewn to be a necessary consequence of the assumed
conditions  p. 400
The artificial system probably introduced about a.d. 538. 403
The Surya Siddhanta probably composed about a.d. 1091. ibid.
c

xxx contents.
Note C. (D.) on Lecture IV. p. 80.
On the Forgeries of the Hindus ...»  p. 403
Note D. (E.) on Lecture IV. p. 83.
On the Astronomical Representations discovered in
Egypt  ,  p. 404
Note E. (F.) on Lecture IV. p. 84.
Notice of the Life of Horrox  , .p. 406
Note F. (G.) on Lecture IV. p. 85.
On the Transits of Venus hitherto observed  p. 407

TWENTY DISCOURSES
PREACHED
BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
IN THE YEAR 1827-
AT
THE LECTURE
Founded by the Rev. John Hulse.

ERRATA.

Page

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For
Read
35
13
thus all revolve
they all revolve
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24
dele now
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21
twelve
ten
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2
effect
affect
—
18
periods
times of rotation
—
Note I,
line 2
12
10
61
19
one
our
67
Note, line penult.
areas
area
75
Note s,
line 3
Penon
Perron
—
Note t,
line penult.
million
millions
130
10
incontestibly
incontestably
143
2
depends
depend
208
14
everlook
overlook
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21
given
committed
218
9
impurity
impunity
PART I.

LECTURE I.
THE POWER OF GOD DISPLAYED IN THE
HEAVENS.

Psalm XIX. 1—6.
" The heavens declare the glory of God; and the fir
mament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day
uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth know
ledge. There is no speech nor language, where their
voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the
sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his
chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a
race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is
nothing hid from the heat thereof ."
The nineteenth psalm has ever been considered
one of the most valuable among the writings
of David. While it breathes, throughout, a
spirit of the purest devotion, it is replete with
sublime ideas, expressed in simple language and
arranged in luminous order.
V.!

2 Lecture I.
This psalm is naturally divided into three
parts. The first relates to that evidence of the
existence of the Deity and that knowledge of
his attributes, which may be derived from the
contemplation of his works. The second ex
presses the still surer testimony which his word
affords, and the peculiar advantages derived
from learning and obeying its precepts. And
thet third contains an earnest prayer to be pre
served from sins whether secret or presumptu
ous; and to be purified both in word and
thought by the grace of God, who is our
strength and our redeemer.
In the first six verses, the royal prophet dis
plays in most eloquent terms the universal tes
timony which the material heavens bear to the
power and wisdom of their Creator: "The
heavens declare the glory of God, and the fir
mament sheweth his handy work." He observes
how continually and how generally they pro
claim the wisdom that formed them : " Day
unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night
sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor
language among them : their voice is not
heard :"a yet the intelligence which they con
vey is universally perceived. Wherever the
sun shines forth to rule the day, wherever the
moon and the stars govern the night, there is
a Marginal translation.

The power of God displayed in the Heavens. 3
displayed a splendid and living testimony to
their Creator's name. "Their line is gone out
through all the earth, and their words to the
end of the world." They pursue their ap
pointed courses in silent order; but in their
silence is eloquence. Their influence is not
heard but felt. The psalmist then selects one
striking instance from the natural world, the
apparent course of the sun, as exemplifying
the power of God. "In them hath he set a
tabernacle for the sun ; which is as a bride
groom coming out of his chamber," radiant in
appearance, and by his presence diffusing cheer
fulness and joy; "and rejoiceth as a strong
man to run a race. His going forth is from
the end of the heaven ; and his circuit unto
the ends of it : and there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof."
In this introductory part of the psalm there
is opened a scene of astonishing magnificence,
and of great interest. In all ages, and among all
nations, the contemplation of the starry heavens
has afforded a favourite exercise for the reflect
ing mind. The most unlearned and unen
lightened have gazed with wonder upon so glo
rious a display of brilliant objects placed far
beyond the control of man, and moving serene
ly through the skies. Uneducated tribes or
half cultivated nations, who interpreted the
a2

4 Lecture I.
phenomena according to their own gross con
ceptions, were still struck with the beauty and
manifest utility of the objects of their contem
plation. Their rude admiration bore testimony
to the glories of the heavens ; and was an ac
knowledgement that He who formed them was
supreme in wisdom and in power. And even
if, when they saw the sun travelling in his
strength, and the whole host of heaven per
forming their courses, they were seduced to
pay to the creature the honour due to the Crea
tor, their homage in its origin was but the per
version of a deep feeling of reverence towards
him. As civilization advanced, the study of
astronomy acquired fresh interest. When the
eye of science was directed towards the hea
venly bodies, it began to descry wonders still
more and more astonishing as it obtained greater
degrees of penetration and discrimination. What
at first appeared a confused assemblage of de
tached bright points, disclosed an order the most
beautiful, and a connection the most perfect,
that imagination could conceive. The courses
of those planets, which had long seemed to
wander almost without method over the hea
venly spaces, were defined ; and in process of
time all their motions were subjected to the
most rigid calculation. When viewed by the
assistance of the telescope, those lucid points

The power of God displayed in the Heavens. 5
brightened and expanded into worlds. In
some of them, the vicissitudes of seasons, and
the succession of day and night were made the
subject of actual observation. By degrees some
were found to be accompanied, in the same man
ner as our earth is, with secondary planets, to
give light to them by night, and to measure their
times and seasons. Further research discovered/
how immensely remote others of the heavenly
bodies are: and man gradually became conversant
with distances, which lead his mind on to the
idea of space without limit.
Whilst men, in all ages, and under differ
ent degrees of mental cultivation, have thus
turned their attention to the study of the hea
vens, their researches have led them into two
principal errors of very different kinds. Super
stition, encouraged by the arts of designing men,
invested the stars with an imaginary influence
over the affairs of the world. When once the
heavens were thus viewed as controlling and
indicating terrestrial events, the most ordinary
phenomenon became an object of disquietude,
and every deviation from the customary aspects
of the natural world excited the greatest alarm.
The unusual appearance of a comet, or an eclipse
of the sun or of the moon, struck dismay into
the hearts of nations. And the most frivolous
events in the lives of the most obscure indivi-

Lecture I.

duals were considered to be governed by the
secret but powerful energies of the planetary
bodies. The study of sound philosophy has banished
these errors. But the consequent cultivation of
abstract science has itself introduced others
scarcely less dangerous. The mind long habi
tuated to its peculiar processes of demonstration
is apt to feel dissatisfied with conclusions de
rived from moral evidence ; upon which it is
still necessary to determine and to act, in mat
ters of the greatest importance. The pride of
reason frequently acquires a most pernicious
ascendency over a mind which is accustomed
to find the difficulties of science yield to its
persevering enquiries. And there seems to be
sometimes a fatal tendency, in a philosophizing
spirit, gradually to remove from consideration,
and at last to deny, the existence of any final
cause. Now this is an error against which the
student of natural philosophy cannot be too
much upon his guard. If scepticism be the
fruit of ignorance, the enquiries of an ingenu
ous mind will soon detect and expose it. If it
appear invested with the character of impurity
and licentiousness, the very vices and turn of
thought, by which it is accompanied, afford
sufficient warning of its dangerous nature.
But when the insidious poison is infused into

The power of God displayed in the Heavens. 7
the cup of science; when the hand which
prepares it is one which has long led the
enquirer through the pleasing intricacies of phi
losophy, and lifted for him the veil which
covers the face of nature ; it then comes recom
mended with such authority, that its most
noxious ingredients are eagerly imbibed.
Observation of a very cursory nature shews
that this danger is not entirely imaginary. The
comprehensive mind, which has successfully en
deavoured to understand how all things are
ordered " in measure and number and weight," b
and to explain the mechanical phaenomena of
the heavens, has not always exhibited that hu
mility which becomes a finite being in contem
plating the mightiest works of an omnipotent
Creator. They who have followed in the steps
of Newton, have not all imitated the modest
and humble piety, by which, in this instance,
he was distinguished. So far from raising their
thoughts from the works of nature to the God
who created them, they have regarded all the
properties of matter, not as communicated, but
as inherent : and have discerned nothing more
than a train of necessary consequences, even in
the exquisite order of the material world. They
have sometimes dared to question the utility
of the most obvious contrivances for the use
" Wisdom xi. 20.

8 Lecture I.
of the inhabitants of this world ; and even to
suggest the means by which more beneficial
effects might have been produced.0
The legitimate study of the highest branches
of natural philosophy ought, on the contrary,
to counteract such errors as these. The more
the mind becomes conversant with the wonders
of the heavens, the more convincing are the
proofs which it receives of a power greater than
any created being can be supposed to possess,
and, what is still more, guided by supreme wis
dom and goodness. But, since the very research
into these magnificent works of the Creator may
thus lead the unguarded student into difficulty
and doubt, every one who is mastering the
scientific difficulties of astronomy, should, at
the same time, direct his attention to the proofs
of power and of manifest contrivance with
which the heavens abound; that he may be
able to give a reason of the hope that is
c Although La Place (in the preface to the third volume
of his Mecanique Celeste, p. xii.) describes the moon as " Cet
astre qui semble avoir ete donne a. la terre pour l'eclairer
pendant les nuits," yet in his Exposition du Systeme du Monde,
a work intended for popular use, he ventures to express
himself thus. " Quelques partisans des causes finales ont
imagine que la lune avait ete donnee a la terre pour l'eclairer
pendant les nuits. Dans ce cas la nature n'aurait point atteint
le but qu'elle se serait propose." (Liv. IV. ch. v. p. 241. edit.
4.) He then makes a supposition by which the illumination
of the earth during the night would have been more perfectly
accomplished.

The power of God displayed in the Heavens- 9
in him, if he meet with those objections,
which have been drawn, even from astronomi
cal principles, against revealed religion. Nei
ther the unmeaning surprise of the ignorant,
nor the profound research of the philosopher,
discovers in the contemplation of the heavens
the best instruction which it is intended to con
vey. From the word of that God who made the
heavens we must learn the most important les
son of all. And that word addresses us thus.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and
the firmament sheweth his handy work."
In the heavens, as in every other part of
the creation, there exist proofs of power and
design. And if we stop short in our researches,
without extending our thoughts from the won
ders of nature to the God of nature, we omit
to do that which reason recommends and reve
lation enjoins.
The ideas, which the study of the heavens
most immediately suggests, are those of aston
ishing power. And in order more clearly to
conceive the extent of the Divine power as
displayed by the heavens, it will be desirable
to notice how clearly we ascend in the study
of astronomy from one degree of magnitude to
another. There are parts of the creation in
which, if we wish to form in our minds any
distinct notions of the power which is exerted,

10 Lecture I.
we find ourselves at a loss, for want of some
common medium, by which we can compare
those works of God with any work of man.
When the Almighty, after having formed man
of the dust of the ground, breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, so that man became
a living soul,d He exerted a power which, we
are conscious, is incomparably superior to that
which we possess. But then it is a power to
tally distinct from any which we can exert;
and therefore is entirely incomprehensible.
But the steps, by which our minds rise from
the consideration of things on earth to the won
ders of the heavens, afford a scale by which
we can, in some degree, compare the extent of
the works of God with the field to which the
exertions of mankind are limited : and we thus
perhaps acquire a more correct, although a very
inadequate notion, in this one instance, how far
the works of God transcend those of man.
We will first confine our view to the surface
of the earth. We look around us, and behold
it diversified with woods, and streams, and seas,
and mountains ; and we cannot fail to observe
the absolute insignificance of the most elaborate
productions of man compared with the great
features of nature. What are the most splendid
palaces which human labour can erect, compared
d Gen. ii. 8.

The power of God displayed in the Heavens. 11
with the hills, whose foundations the Lord hath
laid ? What are the most stately vessels, which
the ingenuity of man can build and his science
direct, compared with the ocean in which they
are so frequently swallowed up? But when
our contemplations are raised from the earth
to the heavens, the scale of comparison is pro
gressively enlarged: we are enabled to rise
step by step from the earth which we inhabit
to the limits of the planetary system in which
we live ; and thence to the sensible bounds of
the universe.
Let us refer to a few of these gradations ;
and take notice how they depend one upon the
other. I. Observations of a very obvious nature
shew that the earth is nearly of a spherical
form: and an approximate value of its mag
nitude is obtained by measuring a definite
portion of its surface. This affords the means
of ascertaining, by a process which needs not
now to be explained, the distance at which
the moon performs her monthly course round
the earth, and the much greater distance at
which the earth revolves about the sun. A
calculation, founded upon further observation
of the heavenly bodies, discovers the distance
at which the primary planets revolve in their
respective orbits. It enables us to ascertain

12 Lecture I.
that many of these bodies are far greater than
the globe which we inhabit, and are accom
panied with several satellites, which perform
around them their regular courses. We are
thus led to contemplate the whole solar system.
We observe its primary and secondary planets
all revolving in the same direction,6 both in
their orbits and probably about their own
axes, and with little deviation from one plane ;
all united by the same invisible force; all
warmed and illuminated by the same central
body ; those nearest to the sun moving on
in their course unaccompanied with satellites ;
but those more distant having moons to give
light by night, and to be for times and sea
sons and for days and years. Around one of
them are extended stupendous rings, spanning
the vault of the heaven, as seen from the
surface of the planet, and generally enlighten
ing a part of it by the reflection of the solar
rays. We must also consider the numerous
comets which have been already observed;
moving in free space to distances far greater
even than the most remote planet, and again
hurried into the immediate vicinity of the
sun. We thus contemplate a scheme of vast
extent, upon which unity and grandeur of
e The secondaries of the planet Herschel move in orbits
nearly perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic.

The power of God displayed in the Heavens. 13
design are evidently impressed. We see all
these bodies moving in their respective courses
without confusion, all obeying one law impres
sed upon them by their Creator's act, and still
continued by his will.
By thus applying those measures of distance
with which we are familiar, we can form a
sufficiently distinct idea of the distances and
magnitudes of the several parts which compose
the system in which we dwell. But how shall
we conceive the power necessary originally to
launch such stupendous masses in their respec
tive directions; and now to control their mo
tions by a constant although invisible agent?
How shall we conceive the wisdom which ap
pointed them a law which shall not be broken ;
which foresaw and provided for all contingen
cies arising from their mutual action : and fitted
them for the abode of sentient, and probably
of rational creatures ?
II. But beyond the solar system, in which
we are placed, we still observe numerous other
bodies. When we lift up our eyes, on a serene
night, we behold the stars studded, apparently
without order, over the vault of heaven. When
the sight is aided by artificial means, new won
ders are discovered. Thousands of stars appear
which are invisible to the unassisted eye. Many
which appear single, are found to be com-

14 Lecture I.
pounded of two or more stars. There are ob
served collections of apparently luminous mat
ter, which the most powerful telescope cannot
distinguish as separate stars : some stars sur
rounded with a bright atmosphere ; others sur
rounded by systems of planetary bodies : and
many evidently revolving about their own axes.
Here then are sufficient indications that the
stars are bodies not very dissimilar to the sun
which illuminates our world. Their light is
of the same nature, reflected and refracted by
the same laws, and moving with the same velo
city as the solar light. But the chasm which
we overleap in order to pass from the sun to
the fixed stars is inconceivably great, compared
with any distances with which we are conver
sant in considering our own system. It is a
fact capable of demonstration, that if we could
traverse the realms of space, and reach the
nearest of these fixed stars, we should be able
to discern the sun only as one of the stars of
heaven. And even a luminous globe, the dia
meter of which was equal to that of the orbit
which the earth annually describes about the suh,
would at such a distance appear, to eyes con
stituted as ours are, but as a bright point.
III. But even if we reached one of those
heavenly bodies, we should still be far from
having approached the boundaries of the crea-

The power of God displayed in the Heavens. 15
tion. The whole of the starry heavens, clearly
visible by the assistance of the best telescopes,
in all probability forms comparatively a very
small part of the universe. The stars appear
to be collected in clusters, or arranged in strata,
each composed of perhaps millions of bodies,
and every one of these the center of numerous
planetary worlds. The starry heavens, which we
perceive, are that portion of the works of God
which is clustered immediately round ourselves.
But as the powers of observation are continually
improved, the telescope brings to view succes
sive series of similar groups. If the eye could
be placed in the midst of one of them, it would
perceive other stars arranged in some new
order; while the whole of that which now
forms the glorious spectacle of our skies, would
be seen, if seen at all, only as a nebulous spot of
indistinct whiteness, scarcely discernible amidst
the apparent infinity of the heavenly bodies. f
These conceptions, magnificent as they are,
are not the fruit of an excited imagination ;
they are the realities of demonstrative science,
founded upon accurate observation of the uni
verse around us. Man has been endued by his
Creator with mental powers capable of cultiva
tion. He has employed them in the study of
f See Herschel on the construction of the heavens. Phil.
Trans. 1785. Art. xii. 1811. Art. xvi.

16 Lecture I.
the wonderful works of God which the universe
displays. His own habitation has provided a
base which has served him to measure the hea
vens. He compares his own stature with the
magnitude of the earth on which he dwells;
the earth with the system in which it is placed ;
the extent of the system with the distance of
the nearest fixed stars : and that distance again
serves as an unit of measurement for other dis
tances which observation points out. Still no
approach is made to any limit. How extended
these wonderful works of the Almighty may
be, no man can presume to say. The sphere of
creation appears to extend around us indefi
nitely on all sides ; " to have its centre every
where, its circumference no where." g
These are considerations which from their ex
tend almost bewilder our minds. But how should
e " Tout ce que nous voyons du monde n'est qu'un trait
imperceptible dans l'ample sein de la nature. Nulle idee
n'approche de letendue de ses espaces. Nous avons beau
enfler nos conceptions, nous n'enfantons que des atomes au
prix de la realite des choses. C'est une sphere infinie dont
le centre est partout, la circonference nulle part." Pascal,
Pensees. Prem. Partie, Art. iv. Pascal is said, by Voltaire,
to have adopted this idea from Timaeus of Locris. The
Editor of Pascal's works, 1821, ascribes it to Hermes Tris-
megistus. The Pensees were published in 1669: and the
same expression is used in John Clieveland's petition to
Oliver Cromwell in 1655. « Rulers within the circle of their
government have a claim to that which is said of the Deity :
they have their center every where and their circumference
nowhere."

The power of God displayed in the Heavens. 17
they raise our ideas toward their great Creator,
when we consider that all these were created
from nothing, by a word, by a mere volition
of the Deity. " Let them be," said God, and
they were. "By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by
the breath of his mouth." " For he spake and
it was done. He commanded and it stood
fast."h What must be that power which so
formed worlds on worlds; worlds, in compa
rison of which, this earth which we inhabit
sinks into utter nothingness. Surely when we
thus lift up our thoughts to the heavens, the
moon and the stars which he hath ordained,
We must feel, if we can ever feel, how stupen
dous and incomprehensible is that Being who
formed them all : " that the heavens" do indeed
" declare the glory of God : and the firmament
sheweth his handy work."
h Psalm xxxiii. 6, 9-

B

LECTURE II.
THE WISDOM OF GOD DISPLAYED IN THE HEAVENS.

Psalm XIX. 1—6.
The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firma
ment sheweth his handy work. Day unto day utter-
eth speech ; and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is
not heard. Their line is gone out through all the
earth, and their words unto the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun ; which
is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going
forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit
unto the ends of it ; and there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof.
The heavens, which declare the glory of God,
by displaying his power, also shew forth his wis
dom, by affording evident proofs of design.
It is needless to embarrass a discussion of
this nature with the consideration of the general
question, whether reason and experience enable
us to infer the existence of design from any
observation of effects. The mind is so consti
tuted, that when we see a number of circum
stances, in each of which there is room for

i i i

The wisdom of God displayed in the Heavens. 19
choice, so arranged that a certain effect is pro
duced, we cannot avoid drawing the conclusion
that the effect was contemplated. And our
conclusion will be more or less forcible, in pro
portion to the number of independent circum
stances which combine in producing the effect.
The most superficial observer might discover
that an eye would answer the purpose of vision.
But when he came to examine its various parts,
when he discovered that each of them was
placed at the precise distance, and disposed in
the exact order, which are necessary in order
to produce a beneficial result ; and that, if that
distance or order were changed, the desired
effect would not be produced; when he came
to notice the various means employed to move
the eye, to protect it from injury, to cleanse it
from impurities, to adapt it to vision under
different circumstances ; he must conclude, with
a degree of assurance which leaves no doubt,
that the eye was made to see. In this instance,
then, as in other instances without number,
there is sufficient proof of contrivance. And
our conviction that contrivance exists, imme
diately directs us to a contriver. The argu
ments of the sophist may bewilder our reason
ing powers, but they cannot unsettle this con
viction. There are some branches of natural philo-
b 2

20 Lecture II.
sophy, in which the proofs of beneficent design
are more obvious than those which the study of
astronomy affords : and they are so, principally,
for this reason. The objects of which they
treat are brought more immediately into contact
with ourselves. They are such as we can more
readily examine, and compare with other ob
jects of a similar kind. In order to infer design,
we must be able to perceive indications of a
choice. And this we shall be able to do more
clearly, by comparing together a number of in
stances, in which we can trace a general simi
larity, with partial variations from a common
principle. If, for instance, we were acquainted with
the anatomical structure and with the wants
and habits of one animal only, we might, no
doubt, argue reasonably and forcibly from an
attentive consideration of its frame, and the
evident adaptation of suitable means to a bene
ficial end, that it was the work of an intelligent
and benevolent contriver. But such a conclu
sion will receive additional confirmation, if we
can direct our attention to the numerous other
animal frames which the study of nature pre
sents to our view : if we observe how the limbs
are increased in number, lengthened or con
tracted, disposed in a varied order, or enveloped
with a different covering; how the innate pro-

The wisdom of God displayed in the Heavens. 21
pensities of animals correspond with their sub
sequent manner of life ; how precisely their
bodily frames are adapted to their several ends.
In an investigation of this nature, every fresh
fact strengthens the argument. But in the
study of astronomy we are in a great measure
deprived of the assistance which might be de
rived from direct observation upon instances
corresponding with that which we are examin
ing. We doubt not, — we have indeed reason
to believe, — that, if our observation could be
extended to other worlds and other systems,
we should behold fresh instances of our Crea
tor's wisdom and power; new and unheard of
modifications of matter ; beings perhaps endued
with senses of which we have no conception :
physical and moral phaenomena, which would
throw altogether a new light upon much which
is now obscure. But all this must, at present,
be inferred by means of a less comprehensive
analogy, instead of serving as the base of one
more extended. At one entrance, therefore, our
knowledge and evidence of contrivance, as
drawn from the contemplation of the heavens,
are quite shut out. From the deficiency of our
information, we must often consider the visible
world as one great isolated instance ; an object,
which, because it is considered as a whole, can-

22 Lecture II.
not afford that kind of evidence which results
from comparison.
Still we must remember that, although it
may be possible to select but few instances, out
of the numerous cases which might be supposed,
as evidences of a designing agent, yet the whole
of the presumption arising from this source lies
on one side. There is no pretence whatever for
concluding, even if we could not prove design,
that design exists not. Utter absence of all
knowledge upon any subject can but leave the
mind in a state of indifference ; a state in
which the smallest probability on one side
should determine the judgment in its favour,
unless it were balanced or counteracted by an
equal or superior probability on the other side.
These remarks are not made with the inten
tion of diminishing the conviction, which the
evidence of design arising from the structure
of the material universe must excite : but that
we may not be looking for greater and more
conclusive evidence than the nature of the case
admits : and may feel that any uncertainty may
arise, not from the absence of sufficient proof,
but from our own inability to discover and ap
preciate it.
As the first instance of wise design, let us
turn our attention to that force which binds

The Law of Gravitation a Proof of Design. 23
the universe together, the force of gravitation.
We know not the precise nature of this force ;
yet we can measure it by its effects. We can
ascertain the law of its variation. We can com
pute, with great accuracy, its influence upon
the heavenly bodies, and upon the waters of
the ocean. Consider now, for a moment, how
this one force, acting continually upon every
atom of matter in the universe, and causing it
to tend towards every other atom according to
a definite law, becomes the means by which life
and vigour are imparted to the material world.
It is this which gives stability to the most
solid structures, to the most stupendous moun
tains. It is this which envelopes the earth with
the thin veil of her atmosphere, and enables
the air to support the vapours and clouds which
shade and fructify her surface. It is this which
causes the rain to fall upon the pastures of the
wilderness, the streams to flow from the hills,
and the rivers to pour into the ocean the tribute
of their waters. A modification of this force
renders the waters buoyant, and makes the sea
a pathway for the commerce of the nations
which it divides. By this force also, the waters
of the rivers are periodically driven backwards
towards their sources, and again resume their ori
ginal course ; yielding to an undulation which
assists the art and labour of mankind, and re-

24 Lecture II.
freshes crowded cities with the salubrious eool-
ness of its accompanying breeze. The same force
guides the moon in her unerring course through
the heavens ; directs all the planets with their
train of smaller globes ; and extends, probably,
through the universe, further than the most dis
tant observations can reach, uniting and compact
ing the whole in one entire and connected plan.
Some of these effects are apparently inde
pendent of the particular law, by which this
force of gravitation varies at different distances.
But, as is well known, its law is such, that every
material atom is urged towards every other ma
terial atom with a force, which diminishes in
the same proportion as the square of the dis
tance increases. And in the choice of this par
ticular law, as there is room for design, so we
find reason to admire the wisdom with which
the selection has been made.
It has, indeed, been attempted to exclude
the notion of choice from this law, by represent
ing it as the necessary condition of every force
which tends to a center.3 But whoever examines
without prejudice the various hypotheses which
have been framed with this intention, will agree
that all attempts to prove the necessary connee-
a La Place Exposition du Systeme du Monde, Liv. IV.
ch. xvii. p. 312. edit. 4. See also Gregory's Astronomy, and
Robison's Elements of Mech. Phil. vol. I. §. 741.

The Law of Gravitation a Proof of Design. 25
tion, between the fact of a force tending to a cen
ter and its law of variation, have totally failed.
Experience indeed appears sufficiently to contro
vert this theory; for many phaenomena in the at
traction and repulsion of small particles cannot
be explained, except by the variation of a force
in a much higher inverse ratio. It is true that
the density of particles diffused from a center
will diminish as the square of the distance in
creases: but besides the difficulty of compre
hending how the divergence of particles from
a center can ever cause a force which tends in
the opposite direction, there is no sufficient
ground for extending this law of variation to a
force which is directed to a center.
There being, then, room for choice in the
selection of a peculiar law, by which every
atom in the universe should act upon every
other atom so as to produce the regulated
motions of immense masses, and yet guard
against all disorder arising, from their mutual
action, observe with what wisdom the existing
law of nature is selected.
In that law of gravitation two things are re
markable. First, that if spheres of determinate
magnitude be composed of elementary atoms,
each of which attracts each with a force varying
inversely as the square of the distance, these
spheres attract one another with forces which

26 Lecture II.
tend to their respective centers and vary in the
same law. Secondly, that the mutual effect
of any number of smaller bodies, revolving
about a much larger central body, is such as
to occasion only slight deviations from those
which would take place, if the smaller bodies
did not influence one another's motions : and
that all variations which would endanger the
stability of the system are periodical. They
increase only to a certain small extent, and then
diminish by the same degrees. These two
conditions would have been ensured by no
other law of variation in the force of gravity.
The first condition, that spheres should
attract each other with a force varying in
the same law as that by which the elemen
tary particles attracted each other, would it is
true have existed, on two suppositions : either
that the force increased in the same proportion
as the distance increased; or that the force of
each particle consisted of two parts : the one
increasing in the same proportion as the dis
tance increased, and the other diminishing in
the same proportion as the square of the dis
tance increased. But neither of these suppo
sitions would have been consistent with the
second condition, by which all danger of de
rangement, arising from the mutual action of
several bodies, is removed.

The Law of Gravitation a Proof of Design. 27
If the force of gravity had varied in any
other inverse law, so that it should diminish
as the distance increases, neither of these two
conditions would have been answered.
One body indeed, projected in a proper
direction and with a determinate velocity,
might describe a circle about another body, and
about the common center of gravity of the two
bodies, whatever be the variation in the law of
gravity at different distances. But the mutual
action of several such bodies would immediately
disturb the regularity of their motions. And
however small the deviation might be at first,
since there would be in the system itself no
tendency to regain its original state, it is clear,
that without a continual exertion of an exter
nal intelligent power, a series of changes would
occur which would terminate in an entire sub
version of the system.
Upon the system of nature, on the contrary,
stability is impressed by the hand of God.
Unwearied research and great sagacity have
led men by degrees to measure and to weigh
the planetary system : and at every fresh step,
some new discovery has been made, which
affords fresh grounds for astonishment at the
power and wisdom of the Almighty. There
was a period in the history of science, when
men of the greatest intellect, the most

28 Lecture II.
ardent enquirers into the works of nature,
thought that the frame of the material system
in which we are placed was not so accurately
adjusted, but that it would, from time to time,
require correction by the immediate inter
position of the Creator's handb. Subsequent
improvement in abstract science has shewn
that this is not the case. The great machine
of the solar system is so nicely balanced within
itself, that it will continue to perform its ma
jestic revolutions, until it shall seem good
to the Almighty to cause it to cease to be.
The paths which the planets trace out in
their appointed courses undergo slight varia
tions in magnitude and form and position ; their
motions are sometimes accelerated and some
times retarded ; but these changes are corrected
by the very causes which produce them. There
is a mean state about which the whole system
oscillates '. Reckoning from this state, all the
b " While comets move in very eccentric orbs, in all
manner of positions, blind fate could never make all the
planets move one and the same way, in orbits concentric,
some inconsiderable irregularities excepted, which may have
risen from the mutual action of the comets and planets upon
one another, and which will be apt to increase till this
system wants a reformation.'' Newton's Optics, B. m. Qu. 31.
c Bailly expresses this fact with great elegance and
precision. " La nature est animee par des forces qui se
combattent, par des agens qui tendent a se detruire. S'il
ya

Mean Distances of the Planets invariable. 20
variations extend only to a certain limited
degree. Having attained that point, they begin
to decrease and pass to the opposite extreme :
and after a lapse of a greater or less time
regain their first position. Now this is far
from being a mere speculative truth. It is
a fact of exceeding importance to ourselves,
as well as to the whole system in which we
are placed.
1. The path which the earth describes about
the sun is nearly circular. Suppose this to
have been originally the form of the orbit, but
that the mean distance could have varied in the
lapse of ages. The result would, in process of
time, have been fatal to all creatures animate
and inanimate upon the face of the earth. The
consequence might have been slow in its ad
vance : but the evil day must have come : and
might have been almost computed, if science
could have attained in any degree its present
perfection. Conceive, now, the misery of man
kind, if they were conscious that such a fatal
change was inevitably approaching. If the dis
turbing power were such as continually to in
crease the distance of the earth from the sun,
in every succeeding year the seasons would
y a un equilibre, elie s'cn ecarte, et n'y revient que par
des oscillations. Tout subsiste, tout dure dans I'ensemble,
tout varie dans le detail. Voila la loi de la nature." Traite
de l'Astron. Indienne — Discours Preliminaire, p. xxxviii.

30 Lecture II.
return more slowly. The fruits of the earth
would gradually become insufficient for the
sustenance of its inhabitants. The influence of
the sun in diffusing fight and heat would con
tinually diminish.d Cold, such as now benumbs
the polar regions of the earth in their dreary
winter, would by degrees bind up the rivers
and the seas : and all animated beings would
eventually be destroyed.
A change equally fatal, but opposite in kind,
would take place, if any planet continually ap
proached the sun, although its orbit still retained
a nearly circular form.
But against the possibility of any such
change the law, which the Creator has given to
the material world, effectually provides. The
mean distance of each of the planets from the
sun does indeed vary ; but it varies by such a
small quantity as to be quite insensible except
by the most accurate observation. And even
to this small variation the Creator has set
bounds, which shall not be passed.6
2. But although the mean distance of a
planet may be secure from change; although,
d Allowing heat to be occasioned by the action of the solar
rays upon the atmosphere, a change of distance would still
cause a change of mean temperature, for the number of rays
which were incident in a given time would vary.
' La Grange, Mem. of Berlin, 1776. Mec. Celeste, Part I
Liv. 11. ch. vii. No. 54. 61 -ch. viii. No. 65. Woodhouse's As-
tron. vol. n. ch. xxi.

Variation of Eccentricity limited. 31
for instance, the earth from year to year may
remain at the same average distance from the
sun, it is possible to conceive that the form of its
annual orbit may be changed. That the eccen
tricity, as it is called, may vary. That the oval,
which it describes, though now a very round
oval, may, at some subsequent period, become
a very long oval ; that the earth may therefore
approach nearer and nearer to the sun at a par
ticular part of each revolution, and finally fall
into that central body. Such a change also
would evidently be fatal to the creatures which
are placed upon the earth, and to its fruits.
But the law imposed upon the force, which
pervades and connects the universe, forbids such
a change. Since the motions of all the bodies in
the planetary system are in the same direction,
the form of their orbits remains nearly unalter
ed : and the small change which does take place
is, in this instance also, a periodical change/
3. The regular succession of the seasons, and
consequently the comfort and existence of all
beings upon the surface of the earth, depends
also upon the inclination of the earth's axis to the
plane of its orbit continuing nearly invariable.
In order to effect this, the axis of rotation must
be a permanent axis. The points terminating
f Mec. Celeste, Part. I. Liv. n. eh. vii. No. 37. 61. Wood-
house's Astron. vol. n. ch. xxiii.

32 Lecture IL
the line about which it revolves must be fixed
points upon its surface. This happy adaptation,
in a case which allowed of infinite variety,
affords in itself no inconsiderable presumption
of design, if the state of the earth, when origi
nally set in motion, were at all similar to its
present state. If, however, it be considered that
any argument in favour of design is, in this
instance, excluded by the supposition that the
earth assumed its present form when in a fluid
state, it must be remembered that the very
supposition introduces an additional evidence
of a beneficial choice. For the same time of
rotation, there are two forms, either of which
a fluid spheroid might assume. Now, in every
instance, the form of the planets differs but
little from a sphere : and it may without diffi
culty be shewn, that this nearly spherical form
is much better adapted for the equable diffusion
of light and heat over their surfaces, than the
far more eccentric form which would also have
been compatible with the law of gravitation.
4. Besides, the permanence of the axis in
fixed space is not alone sufficient to ensure a per
manent inclination of that axis to the plane of
the earth's orbit. That plane might itself be
altered by the disturbance of the planetary
bodies : and very important changes would then
take place, by the disturbance of the seasons-

Variation of Inclination of Orbits limited. 33
The inclination of the plane of the earth's orbit
to that of its equator is at present diminishing.
Should that diminution continue unchecked,
the variation of the seasons, at present so con
ducive to our comfort, and indeed so necessary
to our existence, would eventuaUy cease. But
the law, which has been so wisely selected for
the variation of the force of gravity, precludes
aU UabUity to permanent alteration in the
planetary system, from this cause. The inch-
nation of the orbits of aU the planets to a fixed
plane, although subject to a slight variation
from their mutual action, is restrained within
certain limits much too smaU to occasion any
sensible change in the distribution of light
and heat8.
The magnitude, then, of the planetary
orbits, their form, and their position, aU remain
from age to age, unaltered by the mutual action
of the bodies which compose the system. There
is found a slight variation of the elements, a
little play in the various parts of the mighty
machine : but, considered as one fabric, it con
tinues the same, retaining the motion which
the hand of God impressed upon it at the
creation ; and proclaiming his power and
wisdom. « Mec. Celeste, Part. i. Liv. i. ch. vii. No. 59. 61. Wood-
house's Astron. vol. 11. ch. xxiii. C

34 Lecture II.
Now can this stability exist in the planetary
system by chance ? Can this result, flowing from
the simple law of gravitation, be contemplated
with coldness as a necessary consequence of the
casual aggregation of inert matter ? ShaU it not
rather incite us to lift up our thoughts to Him
who selected this particular modification of the
force, which connects so many parts, and
regulates so many motions. He it was who
" spake the word and they were made : he
commanded, and they were created. He hath
made them fast for ever and ever: He hath
given them a law which shall not be broken."11
But the exquisite provision made in the law
of gravity for the continuance of the system
would have been made in vain, as far as regards
the comfort and even the existence of creatures
similar to those which now animate the face of
the earth, unless the motions originaUy im
pressed upon that globe had been such as to
cause it to describe nearly the path which it
does describe. Doubtless we must not pretend
to limit Omnipotence. The Creator might have
peopled this earth with beings capable of exist
ing under circumstances, which would have de
stroyed all the sentient creatures with which
we are acquainted. Those very comets which
11 Ps. cxlviii. 8. according to the translation of "the Great
Bible."

Motions originally impressed on the Planets. 35
sometimes approach so near the sun, and at
other times are removed to so great a distance
from him, may perhaps be inhabited by beings
of capacity to endure the great changes of light,
and probably of heat, to which they are ex
posed. But the question with respect to the
planetary globes, is this. Every analogy points
them out as bodies similar to the earth which
we inhabit. They are warmed and enlightened
by the same sun. They have the same stars
spread around them in the same order: they
aU describe orbits nearly of the same form :
thus aU revolve about the sun, and probably aU
about their own axes, in the same direction;
and their axes are generaUy inclined to the
plane of their respective orbits.1 They have
therefore aU simUar vicissitudes of seasons, the
same alternation of day and night. Now does
not this similarity justify the conclusion, that
their motions were studiously and purposely
made what they are ? Had there been no com
mon design in the formation of the globes which
compose this system, surely there would have
been found the greatest variety in the forms
and positions of the orbits ; some variation in
the direction of so many motions. Neither is
it unphilosophical to conclude that the diffusion
'' The axis of the planet Jupiter is nearly perpendicular
to the plane of its orbit.
c2

36 Lecture II.
of a nearly equable temperature over the surface
of the planets, the distribution of periods of
light and darkness, of cold and heat, of sum
mer and winter, which is so necessary in our
globe, and is attained in all the planets so sim
ply, yet so beautifully, was intended to be at
tained, when the universe was created. But
this could only be accomplished by a very nice
adjustment of the velocity and direction with
which each of these vast globes was originaUy
impeUed. Here therefore again is evidence of
choice, selection, and design.
When, then, we contemplate the system in
which we are placed, and consider the wonder
ful force which connects so many apparently
detached masses; when we observe that the
same force, which gives stabUity to objects upon
the surface of the earth, confers upon every
planetary body its globular form, and guides it
with unerring certainty in its rapid course;
that, by virtue of the particular law selected
for the variation of that force at different dis
tances, masses composed of innumerable attract
ing particles mutually influence each other by
forces which vary in the same law ; that the per
turbations thus produced never become very
considerable; and that all variations, which
would, if continued, endanger the stability of
the system, are only periodical: we are irre-

The Law of Gravitation a proof of Design. 37
sistibly led to the conclusion, that these magni
ficent works are the production of a designing
mind: that He who "made the earth by his
power," hath "estabUshed the world by his
wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by
his understanding.""
k Jer. Ii. 15. x. 12.

LECTURE III.
THE WISDOM OF GOD DISPLAYED IN THE HEAVENS
AND UPON THE EARTH.

Psalm XIX. 1—6.
The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the fir
mament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day
uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth know
ledge. There is no speech nor language, where their
voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through
all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the
sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his
chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a
race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is
nothing hid from the heat thereof.
When we direct our eyes to the celestial re
gions, and behold the magnificent scene pre
sented to our view : when we consider the
bright stars of heaven as what they really are,
masses of stupendous magnitude existing in
space to which we can assign no limits ; we are
necessarily led to acknowledge the power of
Him who formed them. And when, by further
observation, we detect the accurate laws by
which the motions of the bodies in our own

The succession of Seasons, and of Day and Night. 39
system are regulated, and the obviously wise
ends to which they are subservient; we are
brought to the conclusion that these heavens
are the work, not only of infinite power, but
of a designing intelligence.
We have already referred to the law of
gravity and its consequences as affording proofs
of design in conjunction with benevolence. But
there are numerous other circumstances, more
or less closely connected with astronomy, which
enforce the same truth.
1. We may first notice how nicely the vi
cissitudes of the seasons and the alternation of
day and night, are fitted for sustaining the
living creatures and fruits of this earth. Seed
time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and
winter, day and night, cease not ; and, were
they to cease, the earth would soon become a
desert. A smaU periodical alteration, in the
length of the day, and the temperature of the
seasons, is found to be not only tolerable, but
most conducive to the comfort of our existence.
But any material change, much more the sus
pension of this alternate variation, would speed
ily be foUowed by inevitable and total destruc
tion of every living creature, and of every plant
that grows. Now we are not at all apt to think
of this. The very greatness, the universality of
the benefit makes us forgetful of it. Man goes

40 Lecture III.
forth to his work and to his labour upon the
earth, and expects with anxiety the hour when
evening shall have put a period to his toils.
Night comes on, and affords a season of general
quiet; allowing precisely the degree of time
necessary to recruit his strength, and to restore
the face of nature to its original freshness. He
that now sows, sows in the confident hope that
the seed will spring up, and produce first the
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the
ear : that the rain from heaven wiU descend to
water it, and the warmth of the summer sun
wiU bring its fruit to maturity: that he will
in the autumn put in the sickle, and lay up the
produce in his garner as a provision for the
winter, which he expects to ensue. But few
know, and of those who know fewer still
consider, that this delightful change and this
confident expectation are parts of an analogy
connecting the globe which we inhabit with
the system in which it is placed.
The earth, self balanced on her axle, glides
on with the other planets in her appointed
course through the regions of space, with a
rapidity almost inconceivable though unob
served; like some rich vessel, originally
launched by the Creator's hand, freighted with
all the productions of its various climes, and
affording to them aU an agreeable and necessary

Mean Temperature of the Earth. 41
vicissitude of light and darkness, of heat and cold.
That a night of very long duration would be
intolerable, and soon destroy both animals and
organized beings on the face of the earth, is
manifest. And they who have experienced the
uninterrupted light of a polar day bear witness
to the harassing feelings arising from its con
tinuance, for a time much exceeding the ordi
nary duration of a day.
2. The planet upon which we live is com
posed of matter under three principal modifi
cations, solid, fluid, and aerial. Such a distri
bution is found to be most necessary for the
existence of the different beings which are
placed upon its surface: but the arrangement
depends upon a variety of circumstances, in aU
of which there is room for choice within certain
limits. The first condition, which may be mentioned,
is a certain equable temperature. The varia
tions which take place in different parts of
the world, and at "different seasons, are not so
great as those which may be artificiaUy pro
duced ; and far less than those which any con
siderable alteration of the place occupied by the
earth in the solar system would probably occa
sion. Now, if no alteration be supposed in the
other bodies of which the globe is composed,
the fluid state, in which the element of water

42 Lecture III.
generally presents itself, depends upon the tem
perature to which it is exposed. A degree of
cold by no means inconceivably greater than is
actually experienced, might convert all the seas
which cover our globe into a solid mass: and,
on the contrary, they might be exposed to such
a degree of heat, as, under the ordinary pressure
of the atmosphere, would change the whole into
an elastic vapour. Who was it, then, that
endued the element of water with those qualities
which render it generaUy fluid ; the very con
dition in which it is most useful for the conve
nience and comfort and existence of the animate
and inanimate creation ? Who was it that com
municated to the fluid that singular property
of expanding, when at a certain temperature,
both by the addition and the subtraction of
heat ; a property which in a great measure
secures from destruction the living creatures
which inhabit the waters, by preserving their
deeper parts fluid, even when " the waters
are hid as with a stone, and the face of the
deep is frozen?"3 It was he who " casteth
forth his ice like morsels," who " sendeth out
his word and melteth them," who " causeth
his wind to blow, and the waters flow." b
3. Again, how admirably is the relative
density of water adapted to the purposes which
* Jobxxxviii. 30. » Ps. cxlvii. IS.

Stability of the Equilibrium of the Ocean. 43
it answers in the creation. If that element
were specifically fighter than it is, in any con
siderable degree, every stream would form an
insurmountable obstacle to every animal which
now traverses it with ease. Accidental im
mersion would prove almost inevitably fatal.
Navigation, which now unites the most distant
lands, would have been attended with much
greater difficulty; and could never have been
carried to its present perfection. Or, if water
were relatively much denser than it actually
is, who shaU assign limits to the devastation
which its agitation would occasion? Every
one knows how awful are the effects of a
storm at sea: how irresistible the impulse of
the waves: and, making aU allowances for
the inertness of a denser fluid, it is easy to
see how much more danger would have arisen
from the concentrated shock of the bUlows of
such an ocean.
Besides, all the agitations to which the
ocean is now exposed, whether arising from
the force of winds, or of currents, or from
the mighty heaving of its tides, now graduaUy
subside. The friction of the various parts, and
the direction of the constant force of gravity,
aU tend to restore the equifibrium. But it
is weU known that this might not have been
the case. The waters of the seas might have

44 Lecture III.
been so circumstanced that at some time a force
should have begun to act upon them, which
was counteracted by no steadying counterpoize.
Such a force, however smaU in its beginning,
would have given rise to oscillations in the
fluid, which would gradually have increased
until the surface of the highest mountains
had been covered; and man and beast swept
from the face of the deluged earth. An
event like this, however, cannot happen by
the action of such forces as are known now
to act upon the waters. The equilibrium of
the ocean is an equUibrium of stabUity. If
its ordinary form be changed, there are forces
which immediately tend to bring it back to
the state in which it was, before the dis
turbance. But, what is very remarkable, the
equilibrium of the ocean would not have been
stable, had the density of its waters been
much greater than it is. Had the density of
that fluid exceeded the mean density of the
solid nucleus over which it is diffused, its surface
might have been balanced; but as soon as its
position was disturbed, a succession of undu
lations would have commenced, quite incon
sistent with the present condition of our
globe. c

c Mec. Celeste— Premiere Partie, Liv. IV. ch. 2.

The Earth composed of Land and Water. 45
Now, can we be contented with ascribing
the pecufiar density, which the element of
water possesses, to a lucky chance? ShaU we
say that it was only discovered to possess
certain properties, of which man and animals
have availed themselves ? Rather let us ac
knowledge with Solomon, that it was the Al
mighty who " strengthened the fountains of
the deep," who "gave to the sea his decree
that the waters should not pass his command
ment/ Rather let us join in the subfime
thanksgiving of David, " Bless the Lord, O my
soul, — who laid the foundations of the earth
that it should not be removed for ever. Thou
coveredst it with the deep as with a garment,
the waters stood above the mountains. At
thy rebuke they fled: at the voice of thy
thunder they hasted away. They go up by
the mountains ; they go down by the vaUeys
unto the place which thou hast founded for
them. Thou hast set them a bound that they
may not pass over, that they turn not again
to cover the earth." e
4. There is still another remarkable fact,
connected with the density of water, compared
with the mean density of the earth. Every
part of the earth gives sufficient evidence of
d Prov. viii. 28, 29. ' Psalm civ. I, 9.

46 Lecture III.
having been, at some time, in a state approach
ing to fluidity. Now, if a globe were com
posed of a mixture of matter partly in a sofid,
and partly in a fluid state, and were left to
the undisturbed action of its several parts;
whether this globe had a rotatory motion or
not, the heavier portions would at length be
found to occupy the parts nearer to the center.
The consequence of such an arrangement would
be the formation of a sofid nucleus, every part
of which was covered with the lighter fluid.
No combination of such forces could have pro
duced a globe having its surface diversified
with land and water, and therefore fitted for
the habitation of beings such as now inhabit
the earth. In order to effect this, the force
of gravity, generaUy so indispensable to the
formation and continuance of a stable system,
must be either suspended, or counteracted by
a more powerful agent. What forces were
employed to heave up the vast continents from
their ocean bed, and rear aloft the summits of
the mountains, may be a legitimate subject of
speculation. But some such forces there must
have been before the earth was " founded," as
it is, " upon the seas, and established upon
the floods." f And, whatever secondary means
' Psalm xxiv. a. Comp. Psalm xxxiii. 7.

The Atmosphere. 47
were the instruments of this mighty change,
sound philosophy would itself lead to the
conclusion that there was a period in the
formation of the world, when " God said, Let
the waters under the heavens be gathered to
gether unto one place, and let the dry land
appear; and it was so."g
5. A similar adaptation to beneficial purposes
is found in the atmosphere which envelopes
the earth. It is almost superfluous to dweU
upon its obvious uses. It is indispensably
necessary for sustaining animal and vegetable
life. It supports and conveys the clouds and
vapours, which descend upon the earth in rain
and dew. It diffuses equably the light of the
sun ; so that even those parts of objects, which
are not directly iUuminated, are visible : it ren
ders the change from day to night gradual;
accompanied with circumstances of the greatest
beauty ; and in some parts of the earth it
prolongs the duration of the light of day,
after the sun has disappeared, in a manner
highly conducive to the comfort of the in
habitants. It is the vehicle by which various
odours are transmitted to the sense, and sounds
are conveyed to the ear, susceptible of such
delicate modulation as to be the readiest signs
of ideas, and to afford a source of high grati-
« Gen i. 9.

48 Lecture III.
fication, by their pleasing succession or har
monious combination.
But there are other less obvious, but equally
important properties in the air which we breathe;
properties which indicate selection and design.
Air is an elastic fluid, possessing weight, and
capable of being contracted or expanded by
a variation in heat or pressure. The peculiar
degree of density, which it is found to possess
at the surface of the earth, arises from the
relation between the attractive force of gravity,
and the repulsive force of the particles of which
the atmosphere is composed. And this density
could not be materiaUy altered without occasion
ing much inconvenience.
If the density of the air were greatly in
creased, the light which we receive from the
heavenly bodies would be sensibly diminished;
and the effects of storms and of aU agitations
of the atmosphere would be augmented. Con
sequences still more hurtful would foUow from
a diminution of the density of the atmosphere,
even if the respiration of animals could be
carried on.
In the passage of the solar rays through
the atmosphere, heat is produced. The air
therefore, possessing a sufficient density, is
necessary to preserve the temperature of the
earth at that degree which is found most

Proportion between Sea and Land. 49
beneficial to its various inhabitants. But there
is stiU another consequence connected with the
density and therefore the pressure of the at
mosphere. The air is necessary to keep down
the sea. Were the atmospheric pressure re
moved, or greatly diminished, there would be
but little, if any, intermediate state of the
waters of the ocean between the solid and
aeriform state. A far less degree of heat than
is now frequently experienced would dissipate
aU the waters upon the face of the earth.
So connected are aU the phaenomena of
the natural world. So many things conspire
to render this globe a residence for living
animals, and to make it subservient to their
convenience. 6. The proportion which is found between
sea and land upon the surface of the earth
is another instance of beneficial adaptation to
the use of man, and of other creatures. And
it is, besides, a benefit arising from a cause
which, at first sight, might appear calculated
to produce great inconvenience. We might
imagine that the interposition of vast oceans
between different lands would have been an
insurmountable obstacle to any intercourse.
Whereas it affords the most commodious means
of effecting it. Again, since a great portion of
the surface of the earth is covered by sea, the
D

50 Lecture III.
space adapted to terrestrial animals is proportion
ally limited. We might perhaps have imagined
that a greater surface of land capable of pro
ducing the fruits of the earth, would have
enabled our planet to support a greater number
of living creatures. But besides the considera-
tion of the numerous beings in a state of life
and enjoyment, Avhich the ocean contains, not
only near its surface, as the earth does, but
probably to vast depths, it is easy to perceive
that the quantity of sea is not greater than
is requisite to secure the fertility of the earth.
The ocean is a mighty reservoir: and its con
tents are in a state of continual circulation.
By the wonderful, and hitherto inimitable,
property of natural evaporation, which from
a salt ocean extracts the most pure and limpid
water, the clouds are formed in the atmosphere.
These are driven by the winds over the most
extensive continents. The rains fall upon the
fruits of the earth, and essentially contribute
to bring them to maturity. They supply the
springs and rivers, which, after having adorned
and enriched the earth in their course, return
to the ocean from which they were derived.
We are not, perhaps, competent to form a just
estimate of the precise proportion between sea
and land, which would best secure these various
purposes. But we are able to see that the

The Tides. 51
existing proportion serves them aU: that a
material alteration in that proportion would be
attended with much inconvenience, even if it
did not prove destructive.
7- The magnitude of the tides, caused by
the attraction of the sun and moon upon the
waters of the ocean, is another circumstance
which deserves particular notice, as affording a
strong presumption of design.
The tides, as they at present exist, are emi
nently beneficial. Perhaps we cannot even con
ceive any more perfect system of the same
nature. This periodical undulation, arising not
from any superficial cause, such as the agitation
of the winds, disturbs the ocean to its greatest
depths, and effectually prevents any stagnation
of its waters. Upon the coasts of the ocean, in
narrow seas, and especiaUy in rivers, it produces
a current which is of the greatest convenience to
navigation. By its aid, the mariner is frequently
able to direct his course, with nearly as much
certainty as if the winds of heaven were,' for
several hours, invariably favourable to his pro
gress, and again, for a corresponding period,
propitious to his return. In order to produce
these beneficial effects, many independent parts
must be arranged, each within certain small
limits. The tides are caused by the gravitation
of the sun, the moon, and the earth towards
d 2

52 Lecture III.
each other. If the relative magnitudes or the
relative distances of these bodies had been
different from what they are, the tides must
likewise have been different. There appears,
for instance, no necessary connection between
the force of gravity upon the surface of a planet,
and the magnitude and distance of a secondary
planet which revolves about it. Now, had the
moon been much nearer the earth than it is,
the tides produced in the ocean might have
been so great, as to have overwhelmed the dry
land and all its inhabitants. On the contrary,
had the moon been much more distant, the tides
would have been too smaU to be essentiaUy
beneficial. Neither, again, does there appear
any connection between the distance and mass
of a secondary planet, and the time in which the
primary planet revolves about its own axis.
The earth might have performed its diurnal
revolution in the same time that the planet
Jupiter does, in about twelve hours: and still
might have assumed a form not very different
from that which it now possesses. But the
tides of its ocean would then have reciprocated
with nearly double their present velocity. It
would have been, perhaps, impossible to navigate
rivers, or to approach those parts of the ocean
where local circumstances increase the motions
of the tides.

Rotation of the Secondary Planets upon their Axes. 53
Since then, the magnitudes and relative
position of the sun, the moon, and the earth
are such as to produce effects upon the ocean
acknowledged to be beneficial, when contrary
effects might have been produced, we conclude
that the effects were foreseen: and that the
system affords in this point of view a striking
instance of providential adjustment.
8. But, it may be said, if analogy may be
relied upon, we have at least some reason to con
clude that the secondary planets may be bodies
constituted in the same manner as this earth, and
their respective primary planets. They may
be solid bodies partly covered with a circum
ambient fluid : and if so, the fluctuations, arising
from the difference of the attraction of the
primary upon different parts of their surface,
must be far greater than the undulations which
they could excite upon the fluids of the larger
body. For instance, if the moon were com
posed of parts simUar to that of the earth,
the force of the earth to disturb its waters
would be full ten times as great as that which
the moon exerts upon the waters of our ocean. h
How can this danger be obviated? By a re
lation the most wonderful, may we not say
the most unexpected, that can be conceived,
h Newton, Principia, vol. III. Prop. 38.

54 Lecture III.
All the secondary planets, i upon which observa
tions have successfully been made to establish
the fact of their rotation, are found to revolve
upon their own axes, in the very same time
in which they perform their revolution about
their respective primaries. The consequence
of this correspondence is, that they always
turn the same part of their surface towards
the primary planet ; and therefore that the
general form of the fluids upon their surfaces
will not be periodically altered. The secondary
planets will be elongated in the direction of
the diameter which passes through the center of
the primary ; but no succession of changes
will take place similar to the reciprocations
of the tides upon the earth. It is said,
indeed, that this equafity would arise simply
from physical causes. That, if the angular
motion of a sateUite about its axis had been
very nearly equal to its mean angular motion
in its path about the primary, the attraction
of its primary might have made the two
motions coincide. And it is proved that, after
the secondaries had acquired the form which,
as fluid bodies, they would assume by the
attraction of their primaries, on the supposition
1 The Moon; all the satellites of Jupiter; and one of
Saturn. See Newton, Piincipia, vol. III. Prop. 38. Dan.
Bernoulli, Traite sur le flux et reflux de la mer. ch. iii. §. ,5.
Brinkley's Astron. 5. 125, 130.

Rotation of the Secondary Planets upon their Awes. 55
that the same face is turned towards them,
the large secular variations which effect the
revolutions of the primary bodies would be
communicated to the secondaries ; so that the
equafity between the time of their revolution
and the time of their rotation would still
subsistk. But, allowing this to be the case,
the only question would be, with what
degree of accuracy a particular design was
originally effected; whether it were accom
plished entirely, or only partially by the ad
justment of the initial angular velocity. All
the primary planets revolve about their axes ;
and no general proportion is observed between
their diurnal and annual revolutions.1 Why
is this apparent absence of order suddenly
changed in all the secondaries ? Of all possible
periods which could have been selected for
a sateUite, that which would permit the attrac
tion of its primary to reduce its angular motion
about its axis to an equality with the motion
in its orbit, lies within very small limits. Had
the initial angular velocity been greater or
less than those contained within such limits.

the observed equality never could have taken
k Mecanique Celeste, Part I. Liv. v. ch. ii.
1 The two large planets Saturn and Jupiter revolve about
their axes nearly in the same time, 12 hours, although their
periods are very different. And all the other planets inferior
to them probably revolve in about 24 hours.

56 Lecture III.
place. Yet this nice adjustment is found, not
in one or two sateUites only, but in many;
and probably extends to aU the secondary bodies
of the system.
Shall we then consider it to be improbable
in the highest degree,1" that the Creator of
the universe should give such a degree of
motion, as would obviate a great inconvenience,
if an analogy not very forced may be refied
upon? ShaU we not rather recognize, in this
adaptation, the proofs of wise and beneficent
design ?
9. Another circumstance, which has always
been considered as affording a strong presump
tion of contrivance and design in the con
stitution of the system which we inhabit, is
the fact, that the central body only is luminous.
There seems to be no inteUigible reason why,
if a number of bodies be made to revolve
about their common center of gravity, the
largest alone should be capable of iUuminating
and warming the rest. But it is evident that
the present frame of the solar system is pre
cisely fitted for diffusing light and heat equably
throughout the system; and that the same
purpose could not have been effected, had any
II serait contre toute vraisemblance de supposer qu' a
l'ongine ces deux mouvemens ont ete parfaitement egaux,
Exposit. du Systeme du Monde, Liv. iv. ch. xiv.

Saturn's Rings. 57
one of the planets been luminous and the sun
opake. , 10. Before we conclude this part of our
enquiry, we must briefly aUude to one other cir
cumstance in the planetary system, which most
strongly suggests the agency of a designing
mind. I mean the rings which surround the
planet Saturn. In order that these rings may
revolve about the planet in such a manner as
never to fall upon its surface, there is required
a very nice adjustment of forces, both to
originate, and to continue the motion. It
cannot be conceived that they were graduaUy
formed by the aggregation of matter endued
with gravity. For until they were fully formed
they could not be supported.11 It cannot be
conceived that they were set in motion by
one force only. For a single impulse applied
at any point of one of the rings, would have
brought it into contact with the planet ; unless
either the same impulse were impressed upon
the planet, or an equal and opposite impulse
were given at the same time to the ring.
Again, in aU the other parts of the system,
regularity of form, within certain limits, is
necessary in order to preserve the equilibrium
of the different fluids upon the surface of
n See Vince's Sermons on the Proofs of a Deity derived
from Astronomy, p. 126, &c.

58 Lecture III.
the planetary bodies. And such regularity
is found to exist. In these rings, on the
contrary, considerable irregularity of form is
necessary; for had the rings been perfectly
regular, although their motion might have
commenced, it would have been disturbed by
the action of the other planetary bodies, and
they would in time have faUen upon the
surface of the planet. And in this instance,
where irregularity of form is wanted, there it
is found.0 Their figure being thus irregular,
and the plane in which they move being coin
cident with that of the planet's equator, and
also with the orbits of six of its seven satellites,
the motion although so delicately balanced, is
not liable to be disturbed by the mutual action
of the other bodies in the system. It is impos
sible to contemplate these various adjustments,
without the fuUest conviction that herein is
displayed the design of God.
11. An accurate numerical relation p is also
found between the positions, and consequently
between the mean motions, of the three principal
0 Mec. Celeste, Part. I. Liv. in. ch. vi. § 46.
p The relation is such that the mean motion of the first,
together with twice the mean motion of the third, is equal to
three times the mean motion of the second : and the mean
longitude of the first, together with twice the mean longitude
of the third exceeds three times the mean longitude of the
second by half the circumference. Mec. Celeste, Part. I.
Liv. ii. ch. viii. §. 66.

Relation between the Motions of Jupiter's Satellites. 59
satellites of the planet Jupiter, which it is impos
sible to account for without design. Although
we may not be able to shew what the ultimate
intention of such a relation is, we may perceive
one beneficial consequence derived from it ; that
the surface of the planet during the night is
always illuminated by the reflected light of, at
least, one of its sateUites. And the most hardy
advocates for the effects of chance could never
advance an assertion so utterly improbable as
that this relation could have taken place without
design, even to such a degree of accuracy as
would permit the mutual action of the bodies
to establish the relation exactly. Neither has
observation hitherto detected such a periodical
inequality as would subsist, if the initial motions
had sensibly varied from the present.
The consideration of circumstances such as
these can leave no doubt upon a reasonable mind
that the heavens and the earth display the
wisdom of their Creator by affording expficit
evidence of design. The study of the works of
nature leads us to acknowledge, that the Lord
" created the heavens," that it is " God himself
that formed the earth and made it: he hath
established it, he created it not in vain: he
formed it to be inhabited."9
' Isaiah xiv. 18.

LECTURE IV.
CONSIDERATION OF THE OBJECTIONS TO NATURAL
AND REVEALED RELIGION, WHICH HAVE BEEN
DRAWN FROM ASTRONOMICAL PRINCIPLES.

PSALM XIX. 1—6.
The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firma
ment sheweth his handy work. Day unto day utter-
eth speech ; and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is
not heard. Their line is gone out through all the
earth, and their words unto the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun ; which
is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going
forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit
unto the ends of it ; and there is nothing hid from
the heat thereof.
x he conclusion has already been drawn, from
circumstances connected with the study of astro
nomy, that the material heavens were framed by
a Being of the greatest power and of consummate
wisdom. It might appear almost incredible,
that so obvious a consequence should ever have
been denied. And yet there have been found
those, who have attempted, by continually re
moving the point at which Divine interference

Bufiforis Theory. 61
was necessary, to insinuate at least the possibility
that the whole scheme of the universe is nothing
more than the necessary consequence of pro
perties inherent in matter: that, consequently,
the heavens do not declare the glory of God,
nor does the firmament shew his handy work.
I. 1. Among other hypotheses far too visi
onary to deserve mention, the theory, by which
one celebrated philosopher attempted to account
for the motions of the planets and satellites, is
weU known. Buffon conceived that a comet
grazed the surface of the sun, and drove from it
torrents of liquid matter, which, uniting in
several masses by the mutual gravitation of their
particles, assumed a spherical form, and became
planets and satellites. He thus attempted to
remove the necessity of the interference of the
Divine counsel to direct, and of the Divine arm
to set in motion, the bodies which compose one
system. There are, however, circumstances in the
planetary motions entirely irreconcileable with
this supposition. Planets so formed might have
moved in orbits, which deviated Uttle from
one plane : and all their motions about the sun
might have been in the same direction. But the
uniformity which is found to exist in the direc
tion of their rotation about their axes, and in
the motions of their satellites would be entirely

62 Lecture IV.
unaccounted for, or must be regarded only as
the effect of a fortunate chance. Besides, such
planets must move in very eccentric orbits. If
they did not return so as to fall at once upon
the surface of the sun, they must at least
approach very near to the central body in
some part of every revolution. The single fact,
that the orbits of all the planets are nearly cir
cular, is a fuU confutation of this theory.
But even allowing, for a moment, the hypo
thesis to be true, it wiU by no means exclude
the consideration of a designing Creator, in the
formation of the solar system. It evidently
presupposes the existence of organized matter,
endued with the power of gravitation. It pre
supposes also that the comet which, by its shock,
is supposed to have detached the masses of the
planets, had an angular motion about the sun,
although in an orbit of great eccentricity. For
had its motion arisen only from the attraction of
the central body, it would have faUen directly
into the sun instead of grazing its surface.
Here, then, we must recur to an original pro
jectile force : the very difficulty which the hypo
thesis proposes to elude.
2. Another hypothesis has since been framed,
more elaborate, and more consistent with the
observed facts ; but still insufficient for the
purpose for which it is invented.

La Place's Theory. 63
According to the supposition of La Place,"
aU the matter of the universe, as weU as that
which composes the solar system, existed once
in a highly attenuated nebulous form. By the
mutual gravitation of its particles, it was col
lected about several centers ; and one of these
aggregations became the body of the sun, en
compassed with an atmosphere, which extended
at least as far as the present limits of its plane
tary system. It is contended that the several
nebulous masses, of which the universe would
thus be composed, might each have acquired a
rotatory motion, under certain restrictions,1' with
out the action of any other force than the
mutual gravitation of their particles : and that
the matter of the solar system thus acquired a
motion about an axis. According to this theory,
therefore, we are to imagine the sun t6 have
been once a body of greater density towards the
center, surrounded by matter very rare; the
0 Exposition du Systeme du Monde, Liv. v. ch. vi.
b If several particles be diffused over a finite space, and
then be set in motion from a state of rest by the action of their
mutual gravity ; they will be accumulated either about one
center or about several centers. If they are accumulated about
one center, the system will have no rotatory motion. But if
they are collected about different centers, each mass might
have a rotatory motion, provided the motions of different parts
were in different directions, and the sum of the areas de
scribed by the radius vectors of all the bodies projected upon
any plane was always equal to nothing. See La Place, Exp.
Liv. v. ch. vi. p. 433.

64 Lecture IV.
whole revolving with a uniform angular motion.
We are next to conceive that the nebulous
atmosphere, diffused round the central nucleus
which formed the body of the sun, was con
densed, and left at its successive limits, in the
plane of its equator, zones of matter. These, at
the instant of their separation, would be moving
with such a velocity, that the gravitation to
the common center was precisely equal to the
centrifugal force of rotation: and they would
therefore stUl continue to revolve with a nearly
uniform angular motion. It is further supposed
that these zones would generaUy be separated
into various parts, and by the mutual gravi
tation of their particles be coUected into sphe
rical bodies, which would each have a rotation
about its own axis in the same direction with
its motion round the sun ; since the linear
velocity of the parts at the greatest distance
from the center would be greater than that of
the parts nearer to it. c To account for the
c The linear velocity of the particles further distant from
the center would be greater than that of the particles nearer
to the center, from another cause. The particles more distant
from the center, which had approached nearer to it from the
effects of friction and condensation so as to form the outer
portion of a ring, would always have described about the
common center of gravity areas proportional to the times;
the whole force being directed to that fixed center. Con
sequently, their linear velocity would have increased as they
approached nearer to the center. Whereas the velocity of
the

La Place's Theory. 65
formation of the sateUites and of the ring
which encompasses the planet Saturn, it is
supposed that each planetary mass was also
surrounded by a nebulous vortex, which by
its condensation formed the secondary bodies,
in the same manner as the primary planets were
themselves formed : and that the rings of the
planet Saturn are the only instances, in which
the many conditions, requisite for the stabifity
of the concentric zones, happened to be pre
served. Thus it is imagined that the motions of all
the planets in their orbits and about their own
axes in the same direction, and nearly in the
same plane, the motions of the sateUites in
the same direction, and the nearly circular form
of aU their orbits, may have been derived from
one common cause : whUe the irregular position
and eccentric forms of the orbits which the
comets describe indicate that they are not
bodies originaUy comprized in the planetary
system, but extraneous masses brought within
the sphere of the sun's action.
To this theory, which seems to have been
laboured with great care/ and requires some
the particles which moved from the parts nearer to the center
to form the inner part of the rings would be diminished from
the same cause. La Place, Exposition, p. 434.
d In the 2d edition it is merely announced in a few lines,
pp. 345,
E

66 Lecture IV.
attention to comprehend, there appear to be
insuperable objections.
It is difficult to conceive, although not im
possible, that an uniform rotatory motion about
an axis should have been originally acquired
by systems formed by the coUection of matter,
at first diffused over a great, but finite extent,
and then coUected by their mutual gravitation
into several masses, upon the supposition that
each particle began to move from a state of
rest. Again, it is not easy to imagine that zones
of matter, originally accumulated about a com
mon center, and endued with a rotatory motion,
would ever be detached from the central mass.
If the planetary bodies were so detached,
there is stiU not found such a relation, between
the time of rotation of the central bodies and
the periodic times of the bodies which revolve
about them respectively, as appears necessary
to satisfy the conditions of the hypothesis.
Without entering into any lengthened cal
culation, the general effect which an alteration
pp. 345, 346. In the 4th edition it is much enlarged, pp.
431—439 = and the author expresses his regret and astonish
ment that Newton should have concluded the existence of
a Supreme Cause from the regulated order of the planetary
motions. He demands " peut-on encore affirmer que la con
servation du systeme planetaire entre dans les vues de l'auteur
de la nature }" p. 443.

La Place's Theory. 67
in the magnitude of a revolving mass would
have upon the time of its rotation, is easily
seen. It is weU known that expansion of a
revolving body, provided the relative arrange
ment of its particles were not altered, would
retard its angular motion ; and contraction ac
celerate it.e Suppose, for instance, the matter
which composes the earth to be expanded, by
a mutual repulsion of its particles, into a sphere,
the diameter of which was equal to that of
the moon's orbit. If the relative density of
the different parts of the mass were not altered,
its diurnal revolution would then be performed
in little less than ten years/ The velocity,
therefore, of the equator would be nearly a
hundred and thirty times less that that of the
moon. Consequently the moon could never
have acquired its present motion by having
once formed a portion of such a mass.
Considerations of the same nature wiU lead
to a conclusion stiU more obvious in the case
c In any revolving system, affected only by the mutual
action of its particles, the product of each particle multiplied
into the area described round the center of gravity by its
radius vector projected upon any plane, and therefore upon
a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation passing through
the center of gravity, is constant. If therefore, from any
cause, the distance of particles from that center be increased,
trie areas described by each,, and consequently the angular
velocity of the system, is diminished ; and vice versa.
f See note (A) in the Appendix.
E 2

68 Lecture IV.
of the planet Saturn. That planet revolves
about its own axis nearly in the same time
in which the ring performs a revolution.6
Now, if the matter of the planet had ever been
in such a state of expansion, that its surface
at the equator coincided with the ring, and
the whole mass revolved then with the angular
velocity which the ring has, the subsequent
condensation must have increased its angular
velocity, and therefore caused the planet to
revolve about its axis in a much less time
than the ring itself.
Again, the whole theory must faU, if it
does not solve aU the phaenomena. And the
motions of the satellites of the planet Herschel,
being in planes nearly perpendicular to the
plane of the ecliptic, are not in the direction
which such a cause could have produced.
There is also one fact too obvious to be
overlooked. If the planets have aU been
formed of luminous matter, how is it that
they are all opake? If they have become
dark, how is it that the central body only
retains the power of emitting light and heat?
Such an arrangement is quite inexplicable,
» Mec. Celeste, Part I. Liv.;m. §. 45. Exposit. du Systeme
du Monde, Liv. IV. ch. viii. Brinkley's Astron. § 152
Woodhouse's Astron. Vol. I. ch. xxix. Herschel, Phil. Trans.
1790. Art. xxiii.

La Place's Theory. 69
even upon the supposition of their common
origin, except by the express appointment of
a designing Creator.
The celebrity of the proposer of this theory
gives it an importance, which it otherwise
would not possess. But even supposing it
were possible to prove that aU the phaenomena
of the solar system and of the other heavenly
bodies flowed from one general principle, that
" attraction alone is sufficient to explain aU the
motions of the universe,"11 and that " the stability
of the system is also a consequence of the laws
of motion," * it by no means follows that the
material heavens are not the work of an in
telligent Agent. k
The very diffusion of matter endued with
innate gravity, which this hypothesis supposes,
itself impfies the action of a Divine Power. '
h "Ainsi ^attraction seule suffit pour expliquer tous les
mouvemens de cet univers." La Place, Exposition du Systeme
du Monde, Liv. V. ch. vi. p. 433.
1 " Si les conjectures que je viens de proposer sur l'origine
du systeme planetaire sont fondees, la stabilite de ce systeme
est encore une suite des lois du mouvement." Id. p. 442.
k " It is a perversion of language to assign any law, as the
efficient, operative cause of any thing. A law presupposes
an agent: for it is only the mode, according to which an
agent proceeds: it implies a power: for it is the order ac
cording to which that power acts. Without this agent, without
this power, which are both distinct from itself, the law does
nothing, is nothing." Paley, Natural Theology, ch. i. §. vii,
1 See Bentley's 7th Boyle's Lecture.

7ft Lecture IV.
By the supposition, there must have been a
time when these particles were first endued
with gravitation, or when they were restrained
from obeying its impulse. Now, whenever that
change took place, whenever they either began
to gravitate, or were abandoned to their mutual
gravitation,m there must have been the agency,
mediate or immediate, of some supreme Cause.
" If there be innate gravity, it is impossible
now for the matter of the earth, and all the
planets and stars, to fly up from them, and
become evenly spread throughout all the hea
vens, without a supernatural power. And cer
tainly that which can never be hereafter without
a supernatural power could never be heretofore
without the same power."11
An hypothesis like that which we have
been considering might supply the instruments
by which it may have pleased the Almighty
to execute his wUl; but can never account
for the wisdom which is apparent. All the,
marks of design in the adaptation of wise
means to beneficial purposes remain the same,
whether the supposition be weU founded or
not. The questions will still remain unanswer
ed, Why is matter endued with gravitation?
m La Place speaks of " un systeme de molecules primitive-
ment en repos, et abandonnees a leur attraction mutuelle."
Exposition du Systeme du Monde, p. 433. 4th edit.
" Newton's third Letter to Bentley.

Alleged Improbability of a Revelation to Mankind. 71
Why does the force of gravitation vary pre
cisely in the law which alone ensures the sta
bility of the system ? How is it that so many
complicated and separate adjustments aU con
spire to produce one plan of inconceivable
grandeur, able to sustain itself unchanged from
age to age ?
AU these are inexplicable untU " we under
stand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God, so that things which are seen were
not made of things which do appear.""
II. But besides those who have endeavoured
to remove from their consideration the in
terference of a supreme Intelligence, as mani
fested in the wise fabric of the universe, there
are others who have attempted to draw from
astronomical principles an argument against the
probabUity of a Divine revelation. To a well
ordered mind, the contemplation of the won
ders, which the heavens display, is calculated
to suggest the most sublime notions of their
great Creator, to inspire feefings of the deepest
humiUty and thankfulness. When we compare
man and his works with the glories of the
heavens, when we regard him as the heir of
immortality, made capable of intellectual im
provement, subject to a dispensation of mercy,
0 Heb. xi. 3.

72 Lecture IV.
and assisted continually with the influence of
God's holy Spirit, we must feel unbounded
astonishment and gratitude to the Almighty
who has done so great things for man. We
must join in the sentiments so eloquently ex.
pressed by David ; " O Lord, when I consider
thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, /the moon
and the stars which thou hast ordained; what
is man that thou art mindful of him ? and the
son of man that thou visitest him? For thou
hast made him a little lower than the angels,
and hast crowned him with glory and ho.
nour."p Some however have regarded the heavens
with very different feelings. Struck with the
magnitude of the universe compared with the
works and dwellings of man, they have urged
the improbability, that a being so insignificant
in the general scale of the universe should
be so favoured, as to have an express revelation
made to him of the will of the most High.
And they have dwelt upon the arrogance of
man who, among all the various creatures
which we have reason to believe people in
numerable worlds, conceives himself to be se.
lected as the peculiar care of God.
But surely to reason thus, is to reason both
p Psalm viii. 3, 5.

Alleged Improbability of a Revelation to Mankind. 73
presumptuously and unwisely. Who shaU say,
except he should be enlightened with wisdom
from above, by what laws of moral government
it may have pleased the Creator to govern the
universe? Who shaU say that this world alone
has been favoured with a divine communication?
We presume not to draw aside the veil which
separates us from the dealings of the Almighty.
But any reasoning must be entirely inconclusive,
which rests upon an assertion itself incapable of
proof. Besides, such reasoning controverts every
analogy which can be drawn from the things
which we see. The eyes of the Lord are over
aU his works. The most minute parts are
laboured with the same scrupulous accuracy
as the most extensive. Objects too smaU for
the unassisted human sight are finished with
the same care, provided for with the same
wisdom, as those which to us appear the
most important. It is plain, from mere ob
servation, that aU distinction of small and
great respects created beings only. In the works
of God no such distinction exists. And when
we conclude that man may be overlooked, or
treated with less attention, because he occupies
a relatively small portion of the visible universe,
we reason from the affections of our own minds
to the dealings of Him who " fainteth not, nei-

74 Lecture IV.
ther is weary :"q we confound the feebleness of
man with the unlimited power of God.
III. A further objection has been sometimes
brought, not against revelation in general, but
against the particular revelation with which
man has been favoured. From astronomical
principles conclusions have been drawn respect-;
ing the antiquity of the world, which it is
pretended are incompatible with the Mosaic
history. 1. The much controverted question respect
ing the antiquity of Chinese astronomy, however
curious in an historical and scientific point of
view, is but slightly connected with the truth of
the Jewish records. The annals of the Chinese
empire record, among many others, two astro
nomical phasnomena: the one a conjunction of
five of the planets, said to have been observed
two thousand five hundred years before the
commencement of the Christian aera : the other
an eclipse of the sun, said to have been also
observed about two thousand years before the
same period. The truth of each of these
observations is extremely doubtful/ But even
if they were actuaUy made, the period to which
i Isaiah xl. 28.
1 See Montucla, Histoire des Mathematiques : Part. I.
Liv. iv. §. 3. Delambre, Astron. Ancienne, Liv. n. ch. i.

Alleged Antiquity of Oriental Astronomy. 75
the earfiest of them refers is still many years
subsequent to the deluge, according to the chro
nology of the Septuagint. The difficulty is there
fore reduced to that of reconciling the differences
in point of chronology between that version
of the Scriptures and the present copies of
the original : a difficulty which, however
embarrassing, by no means affects the main
truth of the sacred history.8
2. There are, however, other pretensions,
founded upon astronomical calculations, which
if true, are directly opposed to the Scriptures.
Among the nations of the East there are
chronological systems which suppose a know
ledge of astronomy in ages of a most profound
antiquity.' The observations upon which the
computations are founded have been acquiesced
in, both by those, who have been anxious to
establish their own fanciful theories respecting
the progress of science among the human race,
and by those, who gladly embrace every
opportunity of impugning the certainty of our
holy religion.
s The sera of the flood according to the common copies of
the Septuagint is 3028 b.c. : according to Grabe, 3246. : ac
cording to. Penon, 3617- See Note on Nare's 5th Bampton
Lecture, p. 221.
' The Surya Siddhanta, one of the most celebrated systems
of Astronomy, purports to have been written by divine inspira
tion at least two million of years before the Christian aera.
See Appendix, Note (JB).

76 Lecture IV.
The exceeding absurdities, to which their
statements, relative to the supposed antiquity
of the world, lead, and the gross fictions With
which they are united, are themselves sufficient
to shew how unfounded the supposition is. But
it is to be regretted, that the want of accurate
information, and of a sufficient acquaintance
with the works of Indian writers, for some time
prevented a complete investigation of the precise
nature of their claim. That want has been
recently supplied. The original documents,
upon which the claims of the Hindus to so
remote an antiquity are founded, have been
examined with care; and their errors detected.
One individual, especiaUy, lately brought to
the task unwearied diligence and great sagacity ;
and succeeded, not only in proving how un
founded the claims of the Hindus are, but in
discovering, as well by historical testimony
as by internal evidence, the very time at which
the fraud was introduced. This he effected,
by the application of a very inteUigible and
convincing method of reasoning, followed out
into detail by a deduction of numerous particular
instances, which all lead to a similar result.
The method by which this author" proves
u Bentley, Historical view of Hindu Astronomy, 1825.
See also two papers by the same author on the antiquity of
the Surya Siddhanta in the 6th and 8th vol. of the Asiatic
Researches.

Alleged Antiquity of Oriental Astronomy. 77
the comparatively recent date of the extravagant
pretensions made by Hindu astronomers is
simply this. In European astronomy, the mean
motions of the heavenly bodies are computed
from a comparison of observations, made at a
distant period, with those recently taken. The un
avoidable errors of observation wiUbe thus spread
uniformly over the whole intervening time:
and the mean motions wiU be obtained with
considerable accuracy. A still further degree of
precision is obtained by introducing corrections
first pointed out by the theory of gravitation,
and confirmed by subsequent observation. Now
it appears that the Hindus, in the formation
of their artificial systems, proceed upon a dif
ferent principle. They assume a given position
of the heavenly bodies at a very distant epoch ;
and then compute such mean motions as would
give the position of the bodies at the time
for which the tables were computed. If the
epoch be sufficiently remote, and the assumed
configuration approximately correct, the mean
motions thus computed will differ by a very
small quantity from the true mean motions,
or from the mean motions which are presumed
to be accurately determined by the European
method. But the error which arises from this
source affords the means of computing the
very time when it was first committed. The

78 Lecture IV.
motions will have been assumed so that the
computed place nearly agreed with the observed
place at the time when the tables were con
structed. But, if the tables be erroneous, the
coincidence will no longer exist, when the
computation is made for any other sera. And
the amount of the accumulated error will be
greater in proportion as the time is more
remote. By noticing, therefore, the difference
between the places of the heavenly bodies as
computed by the European and Hindu methods,
for different epochs, if the results indicate a con-
tinuaUy increasing error both before and after
a particular period, the time at which the tables
were computed wiU be approximately obtained.
For it will be the time at which the positions
computed by the tables agree most nearly with
the true positions previously known.
The antiquity of the system may also be
discovered, if the total error at any given time
be known, and also the error in the mean
annual motions which are assigned respectively
to the heavenly bodies.
The degree of accuracy which is thus
attainable will evidently vary with the number
of independent calculations, and with the reliance
which can be placed upon our own tables.
But when many such calculations agree in
pointing out the same time, a degree of cer-

Alleged Antiquity of Oriental Astronomy. 79
tainty is obtained, from which no reasonable
mind can withhold its assent.
This principle being applied to the tables of
the Hindus, which have been appealed to, as
establishing the great antiquity of their astro
nomy, and the consequent authority of their
own claim to immense antiquity, it has been
shewn that none of their artificial systems
are ancient; the earliest extending only to
the beginning of the sixth century of the
Christian aera : and that the dawn of astronomy
in India can be traced back only to about
fourteen centuries before the coming of Christ.
The same conclusion has been drawn re
specting the date of a different method of
computation. In the calculation of eclipses of the sun,
as now practised in India by the Brahmins,
who appear generaUy ignorant of the principles
upon which their computation is founded, it
is necessary to add a certain correction for
precession. And this correction is such, that
it would have been nothing about five hundred
years after the Christian aera. From this cir
cumstance alone it was concluded that the
peculiar method of calculation was introduced
at that period."
x Montucla, Histoire des Mafhematiques, Part II. Liv. in.
§. 3. See Le Gentil, Voyage dans les mers des Indes : and
Mem. de l'Academie, 1772.

80 Lecture IV.
But, whether the astronomical computations
of the Hindus are derived, as is pretended,
from real observations made fuU three thousand
years before the Christian aera, or not, the
chronological system founded upon them is
evidently artificial. The very inspection of
them is sufficient to satisfy the enquirer, that
they are the production of an ingenious but
fanciful people, weU skiUed in numerical com
putation, and undeterred by periods of any
length. That the ages of the world, marked
by great natural catastrophes/ should be
arranged in periods according to a fixed nume
rical law — that the length of human life should
at the end of each be diminished in a deter
minate ratio — to say nothing of the corresponding
alteration of the moral character of mankind
in every age, and the various degrees of
illumination which are supposed to have been
praeternaturaUy imparted, are suppositions so
evidently imaginary that to mention them is
to confute them. When it is further considered
that the Hindus are beyond aU others skilful
in committing the most notorious forgeries
to give a colour to their fanciful schemes,

? Les Indiens disent que chacun de leur ages a fini par
un deluge. See Bailly, Astron omie Indienne et Orientale.
Discours Prelim, p. cii. ciii. Sir W. Jones on the Gods of
Greece, Italy, and India : Asiat. Researches, Vol. I.

Alleged Antiquity of Oriental Astronomy. 81
the degree of importance, which has some
times been attached to their pretensions, wUl
be found far greater than they reaUy de
serve. It is, besides, very remarkable, that the
same astronomical systems, which have been
held forth as opposing, the Mosaic chronology,
actuaUy confirm it. The date ascribed to the
commencement of their age, caUed the Kali
Yuga, in their more modern systems of astro
nomy, has been shewn, with as much accuracy
as the subject aUows, to be that which the
Septuagint version of the Scriptures ascribes to
the general deluge : and is the same which was
used by the Arabians, and also adopted in
the celebrated astronomical tables constructed
by order of Alphonsus king of SevUe.z In the
system of chronology also which '¦ existed among
the Hindus two hundred years before Christ,
their history was divided into astronomical
periods, at the beginning of which they then
placed the creation of the world. And the

z See Bailly, Astron. Indienne : Discours Prelim. Part II.
p. cxxvi. Upon this point Montucla thus expresses himself:
" II resterait a determiner lesquels des Indiens ou des Hebreux
sont les originaux ou les copistes. Si nous croyons a inspira
tion des livres saints, nous ne devons pas etre embarasses.
Mais dans ce siecle philosophique, qui oserait, sans se vouer au
ridicule, appuyer sur une pareille raison?" Hist, des Math.
Part II. Liv. iii. Vol. I. p. 428 F

82 Lecture IV.
first of these periods extended nearly to the
time of the deluge ;a when aU traditional know
ledge would have as it were a fresh point from
which it would spring.
3. Since the Hindu system of chronology
engaged the attention of phUosophers, there
have been discovered, among the remains of
antiquity in Egypt, astronomical representations,
which have been appealed to as furnishing
proofs of an antiquity incompatible with the
Mosaic history. Four sculptures exist, upon
which are found, together with other figures,
those of aU the zodiacal consteUations. And
attempts have been made to ascertain the
period at which they were constructed, by
discovering the position which is assigned to
the equinoctial points. The uncertainty, how
ever, which hitherto prevaUs upon the subject,-
is sufficiently manifest from the fact, that while
some have ascribed an antiquity of fifteen
thousand years to two of the sculptures,
others have concluded that the same sculptures
were not intended to represent the zodiac at
aU ; but are a calendar in hieroglyphical cha
racters, for the seven hundred and eighth
year of Borne, only about fifty years before
the commencement of the Christian aera.b
" Bentley on Hindu Astronomy, §. 5. p. 76.
b See Bentley, Appendix to Hindu Astronomy, No. III.

Alleged Antiquity of Egyptian Astronomy. 83
Any results, however, which have been ob
tained afford too slender a foundation for any
certain conclusion: and it is sufficient for our
present purpose to observe, that they who
have hitherto examined these representations
with the greatest care, deduce from them a
degree of antiquity, which, however extra
ordinary as an historical fact, is by no means
inconsistent with the chronology of the sacred
writings. c
IV. It is pleasing to turn from these in
stances, in which man's misplaced ingenuity
has been employed, either in questioning the
evidence of design afforded in the material
world, or in proposing difficulties against reveal
ed religion, to those eminent men who, from the
same premises, have drawn conclusions widely
different. HappUy the union of an ardent
love for the promotion of science with feelings
of piety and reverence to God is far from un
common. The modesty of true science has
been shewn in the readiness with which minds
of the greatest sagacity have at once acknow
ledged their ignorance, and recognized the plain
indications of a designing inteUigence. No con
clusion can be more rational, and few were
ever expressed more majestically, than that
which Newton draws at the conclusion of his
c See Appendix, Note (E).
F 2

84 Lecture IV.
great work. " This most elegant frame of the
sun and planets and comets could not originate
except by the wisdom and authority of an in
telligent and powerful Being. And if the fixed
stars be centers of similar systems, the con
struction, which indicates unity of design, will
imply also unity of dominion.'"1
One of the most simple, but striking, and
even touching instances of the union of science
with piety is incidentaUy found in the life of
Horrox, e a youth of our own country, and also
a member of our own body ; whose short life
gave promise of the greatest advancement in
science. The visible transit of the planet Venus
over the sun's disk is a phaenomenon which very
rarely occurs. Between two successive instances
more than a century generaUy elapses : and an
opportunity of observing it from a given point
of the earth's surface is still more rare. The
observation is also of such great importance
in determining the elements of the planet's
orbit, and the dimensions of the solar system,
that on the last two occasions expeditions were
expressly sent from various parts of Europe
d " Elegantissima haecce solis, planetarum, et cometarum
compages non nisi consilio et dominio entis intelligentis et
potentis oriri potuit. Et si stellae fixae sint centra similium
systematum, haec omnia simili consilio constructa suberunt
Unius dominio." Scholium Generate.
e See Appendix, Note (F).

Horrow. 85
to the most distant regions of the globe, in
order to observe the transit/
A phaenomenon so rare, requiring at least
an approximate calculation of the time of its
occurrence, and the assistance of sufficient in
struments, was observed by no human eye from
the creation of the world to the middle of
the seventeenth century of the Christian aera. g
Horrox,h a young man but twenty-one years
of age, residing in a remote district of this
country, and almost deprived of the assistance
of books and instruments, discovered that the
imperfect tables of the planetary motions then
in use gave reason to anticipate a visible transit
of the planet. His superior knowledge enabled
him to compute more correctly the time at which
it would take place : and he made his prepara.
tions with all the anxiety which so new and im
portant an observation was calculated to excite
in an ardent mind. On the day before the
transit was expected, he began to observe ; and
he resumed his labours on the morrow. But the
very hour, when his calculations led him to ex
pect the visible appearance of the planet upon
the sun's disk, was also the hour appointed for
the public worship of God on the sabbath day.
The delay of a few minutes might deprive him
f See Appendix, Note (G). e 1639.
h See Appendix, Note (H).

86 Lecture IV.
of the means of observing the transit. If its
very commencement were not noticed, clouds
might intervene : the sun was about to set : and
nearly a century and half would elapse before
another opportunity would occur. Notwith
standing aU this, Horrox twice suspended his
observations, and twice repaired to the house of
God. When his duty was thus paid, and he
returned to his chamber, the second time, his
love of science was gratified with fuU success.
His eyes were the first which ever witnessed the
phaenomenon, which his sagacity had predicted.
Other minds might have been endued with
sufficient ingenuity and patience to discover
and observe so rare an occurrence. Others
might have deduced the scientific information,
and might have recorded the results, as he
did, almost to the last hour of his life, for
the benefit of others. But where shall we
seek for a mind so animated at once with
philosophical enquiry and religious feefing?
How the young Horrox closed his days is
not recorded, and must remain unknown. It is
related only that he was cut off in early youth,
immediately after he had prepared for publi
cation the narrative of his observation: that
he died probably by some sudden cause: and
it is to be believed not unprepared. It was
but a few days before his death that he ex-

Horrox. 87
pressed his intention of visiting his friend,
" unless any pecufiar cause should prevent
him:" and on the day preceding that which
he had so appointed, he finished his mortal
career. But however we may regret the
early termination of a life from which so
much was to be expected, the evident strength
of his religious principles forbids us to regard
his fate as premature. His name wiU be pre
served in the register of those men, who af
forded the brightest promise of exceUence to
their own time, and exhibit the fairest models
for the imitation of future ages.

PART II.

LECTURE V.
THE PERFECTION OF THE LAW OF GOD.

Psalm XIX. 7-
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
In the introductory part of this psalm, David
dwells upon the evidence of creative power and
wisdom suggested by the splendid phaenomena
of the natural world. In the second part, which
we are now to consider, he advances a series of
most important propositions, aU bearing reference
to the wUl of God, as revealed in his word. By
a mode of speech not unusual, especiaUy in the
poetical parts of the Holy Scriptures, he employs
several terms, which aU refer to the same thing.
He denominates the written word of God

The Perfection of the Law of God. 89
" the law of the Lord,"1 because it contains the
whole doctrine established by God for the regu
lation of man's life ; " his testimony/' because it
is set forth as a witness between God and man,
both of the promises which are made on the
one part, and of the duties which are enjoined
on the other ; "his statutes," and " his command
ments," because they are imposed upon mankind
by the supreme authority of God; "his fear,"
because it teaches man to worship God with a
holy reverence ;b and " his judgments," because
they declare his wiU now, and wiU be made the
rule of final judgment hereafter.
Without dweUing, then, upon any nice dis
tinctions in the different meanings of the terms
employed, we may refer them aU to that written
book of fife, which we profess to receive as the
sole standard of our faith and practice.
I. The first assertion is this ;
" The law of the Lord is perfect, converting"
or restoring " the soul."
Whoever is previously convinced of the ex
istence of God, and has endeavoured to study
his attributes, may say with truth that all the
works and words of the Lord are perfect, that
is, that they are fuUy adapted to the purposes
for which they are intended, because they pro-
a Psalm i. 2. cxix. 70. Jer. viii. 8. Mai. ii. 6.
b Comp. Gen. xxxi. 53. Heb. Psalm lxxvi. 11.

90 Lecture V.
ceed from a Being who is perfection itself.
But the manner, in which the Psalmist intro
duces the present assertion, implies more than
this. It plainly is designed to point out a con
trast, between the demonstration of God's wis
dom and power as derived from the study even
of his most magnificent works, and that which
is obtained from the diligent perusal of his holy
word. It indicates a degree of fulness and com
pleteness in the one, which the other can never
possess. This difference is in itself sufficiently appa
rent. The contemplation of the Creator's works
must lead every intelligent mind to acknowledge
his existence; and will afford some faint con
ception of his wisdom and power. " The invi
sible things of him, from the creation of the
world, are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power
and Godhead."0 StiU, between the God of hea
ven and man upon earth, there can be discovered
by observation alone no such relation as wfil
enable us to act agreeably to his wiU.d We
c Rom. i. 20.
d " Wherefore we conclude that sacred Theology, which
in our idiom we term Divinity, is grounded only upon the
word and oracle of God, and not upon the light of nature : for
it is written, coeli enarrant gloriam Dei, but it is not written,
coeli enarrant voluntatem Dei. But of that it is said ad legem
et testimonium : si non fecerint secundum verbum istud."
Bacon, de Augment. Scientiarum, Lib. ix. Cap. 1.

The Perfection of the Law of God. 91
might know that there is a God ; for that fact is
demonstrated by every object which we behold ;
by every breath which we draw. We might
conclude that. his power was far greater than that
of any created being; for his material works
display a series of regularly organized bodies,
extending as far as our observation can be
carried. And an analogy which cannot be
resisted leads us stiU further. We have no
reason whatever to limit the works of God pre
cisely at the point, to which our sight, aided by
artificial means, is able to penetrate into the
infinity of space : and we cannot avoid conclud
ing the wonders of creation to be so great, that
aU which man can ever discover forms a compa
ratively smaU portion of the Universe. We
might conclude also, from the same source, that
God was every where present ; for to whatever
point our attention^ is directed, there we meet
with evidence of his constant agency : that he
was supremely wise ; for contrivances of every
varied form, precisely fitted for the purposes
which they should meet, continually offer them
selves to our notice : that he was most benevo
lent; for these contrivances are every where
adapted to a beneficial purpose.
StiU, a man, who observed what passed
within himself, would soon discover, that there
were many most important questions, respecting

92 Lecture V.
the nature of God and the consequent duties
of mankind, which his observation and his rea
son could never resolve. The laws of God's
moral government, the worship which he re
quires, how far he interferes to reward or
punish men for their actions in this life, to
what extent our existence hereafter is influ
enced by our conduct here — these, and other
questions of the highest interest, are evidently
incapable of being satisfactorily answered by
the unassisted powers of the human mind.
Other difficulties equaUy insuperable arise, when
we endeavour to reconcile attributes of the
Deity apparently inconsistent with one another ;
to conceive how it comes to pass that the fore
knowledge of God interferes not with the free
agency of man : to comprehend that mysterious
power of God which no magnitude can over
come, no minuteness escape, no intricacy dis
tract: a power which at the same instant
directs the complicated motions of innumerable
worlds; guides every heavenly body in its
course through the free paths of infinite space,
and gives life to the smallest of those living
creatures which animate them. When we thus
attempt to form a clear conception of a Being
who neither slumbers nor sleeps; we are com
pelled to confess with Job ; " Lo, these are
parts of his ways : but how little a portion

The Perfection of the Law of God. 93
is heard of him;"6 that the knowledge which
man can thus attain of heavenly things cannot
satisfy the soul, and still leaves a consciousness
that much remains unknown.
But at this very point, where the feeble
torch . of reason ceases to direct our footsteps
in the investigation of truth, the word of God
shines forth, a lamp unto our feet, and a light
unto our path/ Its character is perfection.
It purports to be a revelation from heaven of
aU that man is to believe and to do, that he
may obtain eternal fife. It displays as much
of the Divine counsels as it is necessary for
man to know ; perhaps as much as his present
faculties are able to comprehend. It solves,
upon authority, various questions which rea
son could never determine. It teaches man
a becoming humility and diffidence of his own
strength. It opens views of the Divine power
and wisdom and goodness which the most per
severing study of natural objects could never
attain. It proposes means of grace and dis
closes hopes of future glory, such as eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived.
The doctrine built solely upon natural reason,
valuable as it is within its proper limits, is
stiU imperfect and unsatisfactory. The doc
trine of God is perfect, refreshing the soul.
e Job xxvi. 14. f Psalm cxix. 105.

94 Lecture V.
II. The law of God is perfect also, as a
rule of life, contrasted with all other laws.
Human laws can only regulate in some de
gree the actions of men. Over the thoughts
of the heart they neither have, nor can pre
tend to have, any control. And in this re
spect they are imperfect, that, in every specific
case, the evil which they intend to correct
must already have taken place, before the
remedy can be applied.
Now it is to the heart itself, to the very
spring of volition and action, that the law of
God is applied. It is not meant that the
hearts even of those, who sincerely endeavour
to obey the wiU of God, are always under
the control of this law. For that would be
to ascribe perfection to human nature which
receives, as weU as to God who gives, his
law. And we all know by what a painful
change the original perfection of our nature
has been corrupted. StiU the law of God
is intended to exert this control ; and may
and wiU, by his grace, so act, if the mind
of man be not unfitted to receive it. Now
it is evident that a law which regulates the
very thoughts; which forbids not only theft
and murder and adultery, but the very act
of desiring what belongs to another, and the
rising even of hidden anger; which makes

The Perfection of the Law of God. 95
the love of God and the love of man the
foundation of every duty, and a lively faith
in the promises of God and the mediation of
his Son the ruling principle of our lives, is,
in this respect, a perfect law.
III. There is still another qualification
necessary to the perfection of any law, which
is given to ensure the happiness of mankind.
It requires no long experience to discover
that in a greater or less degree "all have sin
ned and come short of the glory of God."e
And so close is the connection, even in this
world, between sin and suffering, that no
man can long separate them in his imagina
tion. Disguise it as we may, there will
adhere to the consciousness of guilt a certain
fearful looking for of judgment. Undoubtedly,
in different men this feeling wiU vary in in
tensity. With some it may, for the present,
amount only to an occasional uneasiness ; a
fear and dread that the way in which they
are proceeding cannot end weU: that it is not
the way which wiU bring a man peace at
the last. With others, the apprehension may
be of a severer nature. It may haunt them
in their hours of guilty pleasure; and poison
the source of aU their impure enjoyments.
With others, again, it may be aggravated into
* Rom. iii. 23.

96 Lecture V.
an unutterable dread. Let any one read those
passionate effusions of David, in which he
laments the wickedness of his heart, speaks
of the waves of God's wrath which have all
gone over him, and compares the mental an
guish which he endures with the bodily torture
arising from fractured bones ; and then let him
say whether such outcries were ever uttered
except under severe pain; whether there be
not something real in the agonies of a, broken
spirit. Surely then every law, which purports to
direct mankind in all the circumstances of life,
must contain some remedy for an evil of this
magnitude. For truly miserable comforters
would those be, who laid down only the
penalty of guilt, and proposed no means by
which even the sincerest repentance should
make satisfaction for an offence. Now, as
God's law is the only source whence we can
learn the cause of sin, so is it the only law
which provides a remedy for it. And it
seems that David refers to this fact in his
assertion, "the law of the Lord is perfect,
converting" or restoring "the soul." The soul
of the sinner, borne down by the sense of
his guilt, and tortured with the agony of
remorse, is disquieted and faints within him;
and the word of God offers the only means

The Perfection of the Law of God. 97
which can revive his spirit :; the offer of
pardon, and the promise of assistance and
grace. 1. In perusing the word of God we cannot
avoid noticing how prominent are the passages
which promise forgiveness of sins to aU who
truly repent. Independently of those ordi
nances under the law, which, while they pre
figured the great satisfaction made for sin,
served also, when duly performed, to avert
the punishment of guUt ; the assurance of par
don to the penitent is repeated in every form
of expression, which could persuade men to
return and live.
The law of Moses contains the strongest
promises of acceptance to all who should seek
the Lord with all their heart and with all
their soul, and turn to the Lord and be obe
dient unto his voice.11
The history of God's chosen people abounds
in exhortations to put away their sins and re
turn to the worship and service of Jehovah :
with the assurance that if they did return,
their brethren and their chUdren should find
compassion.' And when the prophets were
raised up to declare the whole wUl of God,
they published the most animating promises
h Deut. iv. 29, 30, 31. xxx. 1, 2, 3, 8.
1 1 Sam. vii. 3, 4. 1 Kings viii. 46 — 50. 2 Chron. xxx. 6, 7, 9*
G

98 Lecture V.
to those who truly repent. Isaiah was com
missioned to declare in the name of the Most
High ; " Wash you, make you clean, put away
the evil of your doings from before mine eyes :
cease to do evil, learn to do well :" " Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white
as snow ; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool."k " I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own
sake ? and I will not remember thy sins."1
" I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy trans
gressions ; and as a cloud thy sins." m " Let the
wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous
man his thoughts, and let him return unto the
Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.""
Jeremiah referred the Jews to the new
covenant, under which God would foraive their
iniquity and no more remember their sin.° The
word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel/
and commissioned him to proclaim, " If the
wicked wiU turn from all his sins that he hath
committed, and keep aU my statutes, and do
that which is lawful and right, he shaU surely
live, he shall not die.'"1 Joel urged the people
from the consideration of the gracious nature
k Isaiah L l6> !7, 18. i lsaiah xliiL 25_
™ Isaiah xliv. 22. -> Isaiah lv. 7.
° Jer. xxxi. 31, 34. >• Ezek. i. 3. ¦« Ezek. xyiii. 21.

The Perfection of the Law of Got). 99
of God, to turn to Him with aU their heart,
and with fasting, and with weeping, and with
mourning/ Micah gave utterance to senti
ments such as these. " Who is a God like
unto thee? that pardoneth the iniquity and
passeth by the transgressions of the remnant
of his heritage." " Thou wilt cast all their sins
into the depths of the sea."s And Malachi,
the last of that illustrious line of inspired men,
in the midst of his invective against the de
generate people of the Jews, stUl urged them
with this appeal : " Return unto me, and I
wiU return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.'"
But the fulness of the promise of forgive
ness was reserved for the Gospel dispensation.
Then it was that the fountain was opened to
the house of David and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness : u that the
knowledge of salvation was given unto his
people by the Almighty by the remission of
their sins.x Then it was that the great sacrifice
so long prefigured by aU the ordinances of the
law, so long predicted by all the prophets,
was made once for the sins of the whole
world. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, that we might be made the righteous-
r Joel ii. 12. ! Mic. vii. 18, 19.
1 Mai. iii. 7- u Zech. xiii. 1.
x Luke i. 77-
G 2

100 Lecture V.
ness of God in him.y Once in the end of the
world Christ appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself :* "that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive re
mission of their sins."3 Forgiveness is thus
promised to the repentant sinner; "that his
sins may be blotted out when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord."b On this account, therefore, the law
of the Lord may justly be characterized as
restoring the soul.
2. But when the sinner has learnt to rely
upon these merciful promises, and strives to
fulfil the conditions, which are imposed in
the written word of God ; when he endeavours
to have a fixed faith in the assurance of God
who cannot lie, and to live " soberly, righteous
ly and godly in this present world;"0 he soon
finds fresh cause for uneasiness, in his inability
to fulfil the terms, on which alone he hoped
for pardon. He finds that the weakness under
which he labours is not such a partial failure
of strength as a temporary medicine can re
move ; that " the whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint." d He finds that to " restore "
y 2 Cor. v. 21. * Heb. ix. 26.
¦"¦ Acts x. 43.
Acts ill. 19. owa)? aV 6,\6ci)o-i Kaipo) a va\]s u£e uki aVo irpo-
CFWTTOV TOU KufllOl/.
c Tit »• 12. * Isaiah i. r>.

The Perfection of the Law of God. 101
his soul there is required not only a promise
of pardon, but assistance even to perform the
conditions which it has pleased God to pro
pose. And this assistance also is promised to
the penitent, in the written word of God.
When the. apostle Paul had been favoured
with that vision in which he was " caught up
into paradise, and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful for man to utter," e there
was given unto him a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should
be exalted above measure : and he besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from him.
But the Lord said unto him, " My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made
perfect in weakness." f Neither is this a soli
tary instance of support. The apostle applies
the same doctrine of assisting grace to others.
He declares that " the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities:"6 and warns his converts not to
grieve the holy Spirit of God whereby they
are sealed unto the day of redemption.11 The
same gracious promises of assistance are re
newed in various parts of holy Scripture: and
they afford a comfort to the soul, worn down
with the consciousness of guilt, and with the
fear of losing the pardon, which the mercy, of
c 2 Cor. xii. 4. f 2 Cor. xii. 9.
s Rom. viii. 26. h Eph. iv. 30.

102 Lecture V.
God has promised to those who truly re
pent. Thus strengthened with the promise of for
giveness and with the assurance of assisting
grace, the afflicted soul revives. It discovers in
the word of God, a provision suitable to its
desires, and adequate to its utmost need: and
acknowledges that "the law of the Lord is
perfect," and therefore restores the soul.
IV. The manner, in which the word of God
acts, displays a further perfection, which makes
it peculiarly fit to convert and invigorate the
soul. Instruction in this law must, it is true, be
sought in the very same way as instruction in
any other law, by diligent hearing, by patient
research, by earnest attention to the precepts
which are delivered, and to the language in
which they are conveyed. He who would un
derstand the full import of the holy truths
which are there displayed, must search the
Scriptures with the same assiduity as he would
apply in order to comprehend any other book.
There are difficulties of the very same kind to
be surmounted ; and they must be overcome, if
they be overcome at all, by diligence and pa
tience ; by the slow process of mental cultiva
tion, and the study, often repulsive, and some
times apparently trifling, of subjects purely

The Perfection of the Law of God. 103
grammatical and phUological. And we have no
reason whatever to expect such assistance from
above, as shaU in the least supersede the necessity
of this laborious exertion.
But when the Scripture is considered as a
rule of life, there is a fundamental distinction
between the law of the Lord and every other
law. Other laws are passive. The law of the
Lord, we are taught in Scripture, is active. In
thus considering the sacred volume, we must
be indeed careful, as we would value our eternal
welfare, not to relax our own endeavours : for
without them nothing will be done for us. We
must be careful too, that we be not hurried
away by visionary fancies, which arise only from
a heated imagination. For many, it is to be
feared, have mistaken these for the undoubted
tokens of immediate inspiration. StiU we must
never allow the danger that may arise from the
abuse of the doctrine to prejudice our minds
against the doctrine itself, if clearly revealed.
And there undoubtedly is found in Scripture,
sufficient proof that the word of God, acting
by his Holy Spirit, does work with the patient
enquirer and dUigent hearer of that word, so
as to convert his heart. " The word of God,"
says the apostle, speaking of the Scriptures,
" is quick and powerful ; and sharper than any
two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing

104 Lecture V.
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart."1 Now with whatever
limitations expressions such as these may be
taken, they certainly do imply — and it. is a doc
trine fuU of comfort to those who find how
weak their own endeavours are — that the word
of God itself acts upon the mind of man ; and
that, in their very studies, the grace of God is
given to those who search his word, and exer
cises a renewing and purifying influence upon
their hearts.
In this sense, therefore, also, " The law of the
Lord is perfect, converting the soul."
Having, then a law revealed for our guid
ance, so precisely fitted to the wants and weak
ness of our nature, how great should be our
thankfulness to God for this revelation of his
will. We should receive it as the greatest
blessing : we should make it, what it was intend
ed to become, the guide and rule of our lives.
In order to do this, we must dUigently search
the Scriptures. And this is a study as delight
ful as it is salutary. Hear with what rapturous
expressions David speaks of his study of God's
word. " O how love I thy law : it is my medi
tation all the day." " How sweet are thy words
1 Heb. iv. 12, compared with Heb. iv. 2.

The Perfection of the Law of God. 105
unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey unto my
mouth." k
This duty deserves peculiar attention in this
place. Many of us are here engaged in the
pursuit of the severer studies, which, while they
habituate the mind to accuracy of demonstration
and clearness of thought, often lead to some of
the sublimest proofs of the wisdom and power
of the Creator. When we study the material
bodies, which surround us on all sides upon the
earth, and trace the mechanical consequences,
which flow from a few simple principles, when
we observe the order in which aU organized
beings are arranged ; and their close adaptation
to the wants of animated creatures, we are led to
the contemplation of him who contrived and
established so fair a world. When our researches
lead us to study the nature " of trees, from the
cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop
that springeth out of the waU;" and the habits
" of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things,
and of fishes,"1 we join in the sentiments which
such contemplations suggested to David, " Lord,
how manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast
thou made them aU; the earth is full of thy
riches.'"" When we consider the wonders of the
k Psalm cxix. 97, 103. ' 1 Kings iv. 33.
m Psalm civ. 24.

106 Lecture V.
heavens, and have learned to arrange some of
those innumerable briUiant bodies which shine
in our skies, to discover the simple law by which
aU their motions are regulated, and to trace
their courses through the fields of space, we
must acknowledge that " the heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth
his handy work." We must lift up our hearts
to him who stretched out the heavens like a
curtain;" who " telleth the number of the
stars," and " calleth them all by their names;"0
and " hath given them a law which shaU not be
broken."p Now the danger is that we should rest here.
That, feeling quite conscious of the existence
and power of God, our understandings should
be convinced, while our hearts are uninfluenced:
That we should suffer the pursuits of science or
of general literature to engross our attention,
while we neglect those studies which are able
to make us wise unto salvation. If we do this,
we do what is most irrational ; we rest satisfied
with that which is imperfect, and neglect that
perfect law of the Lord which converts the soul.
Considered even in a philosophical point of
view, such neglect is manifestly unjustifiable.
n psalm civ. 2. ° psalm cxlvii. 4.
p Psalm cxlviii. 6. Great Bible.

The Perfection of the Law of God. 107
The beautiful arrangement of the celestial bodies,
which modern science has discovered, doubtless
leads the mind to reflections on the wisdom
which conceived, and the power which executed
so wonderful a fabric. But how much more
touching to the Christian is the reflection, that
the same God who arranged the motion of those
heavenly bodies, is the God to whom he looks
for individual support, and in whose immediate
presence he continually dweUs : that the same
hand which binds the sweet influences of Pleiades,
and looseth the bands of Orion, q actively inter
feres to guide the faithful in aU the intricacies
and troubles of this life : that He, whose agency
continuaUy controls all the mighty changes of
the material world, notes also every word
which we speak and every thought which we
conceive: that the Creator, who caUed out of
nothing all that we behold, and sustains the
Universe by his will, is also about our path
and about our bed, and spieth out all our
ways.1 To the contemplation, then, of the works
of God, let us add the daily study of his
word. So may we hope for that know
ledge of heavenly things which no study of
mere natural objects can attain ; to be regu-
i Job xxxviii. 31. r Psalm cxxxix. 3. Great Bible.

108 Lecture V.
lated by a law perfect in itself, directing the
very thoughts ; and to receive those assurances
of pardon, and that assistance of heavenly
grace, which alone can convert and restore
the soul.

LECTURE VI.

THE EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION ; . AND
ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

Psalm XIX. 7.
The testimony of the Lord is sure ; making wise
the simple.
If a book, which purports to contain a re
velation from heaven, and to offer instructions
for the regulation of fife, be put into the
hands of man, it is requisite that evidence
should be given, sufficient to satisfy a reason
able mind that its pretensions are valid. Ac
cordingly David, in enumerating the excellencies
which characterize the written word of God,
neglects not to observe that the "testimony of
the Lord is sure."
Every imposture courts concealment: and
false religions have always been anxious to
discourage enquiry into their origin. They
have enveloped the source of their belief in
fables, and hidden it in the obscurity of re
mote ages. The Scriptures, on the contrary,
not only permit, but command us to investigate

110 Lecture VI.
their pretensions to be reaUy the word of God.
They direct us to be ready to give to every
one that asketh us a reason of the hope which
is in us.a Much has consequently been done
by Christians in all ages, to establish the cer
tainty of our faith: and it has been shewn
that the goodly fabric of the universal Church
is built upon so firm a foundation, that against
it the gates of hell shall not prevail.
After so many have successfully laboured
in this important work, it would be superfluous
now to enter at large upon the evidence which
they have accumulated, in order to prove the
authority of the Holy Scriptures. Such an
undertaking involves researches into many
points of great intricacy ; and requires more
time and more study than many can bestow.
Our present object requires only such a brief
outline to be drawn of this evidence, as may
illustrate the assertion of David, " The tes^
timony of the Lord is sure."
I. 1. Since we derive our knowledge of
the Christian religion from the written books
of the New Testament ; it is evidently requisite
first to ascertain that these books are the ge
nuine productions of the persons whose names
they bear, or, at least, that they contain a true
account of the facts which they relate, and of
* 1 Pet. iii. ] o.

The Writings of the New Testament Genuine. Ill
the doctrine preached by the original founders
of our faith. The canon of the New Testa
ment has been established by an enquiry into
the writings of those who lived at an early
period of the Christian sera. Long before
any written list of canonical Scripture was
drawn up and fixed by any authority of the
Church, the very same books, which we now
receive as the undoubted works of the Evan
gelists and Apostles, are found to have been
quoted and appealed to as authority by all
Christian writers. These quotations can be
traced back regularly from the present time
to the age of the Apostles. Many of these
writers give catalogues of the books which
are received by them as genuine, carefuUy no
ticing those few which, though received by
the majority of the Christian church, have yet
not met with unanimous assent. Their testi
mony, therefore, in favour of the books which
they all approve is perfectly convincing. And
the doubts which they express, respecting some
of the sacred books, have only this effect, that
more care is requisite in tracing them to their
source, than in proving the authenticity of the
uncontroverted books. These writings, besides,
were soon coUected into a volume, and distin
guished by titles of respect : they were divided
by a broad line of separation from all other

112 Lecture VI.
writings even of the apostolic age: and their
authority was received as a perfect proof of
any disputed doctrine. Every sect of Chris
tians, in all ages, grounded its opinions on
the very same gospels which we now possess;
and received, with very few exceptions, the
same canon of Holy Scripture. And all their
adversaries, in the height of their hostility, al
ways recognized these books as the foundation
upon which the Christian faith was buUt.
Besides, the books of the New Testament
were at an early period translated into differ
ent languages, and circulated in various parts
of the civilized world. These versions, besides
being corroborative proofs of the genuineness
of the sacred writings, are also a security against
their having been materiaUy altered in the
course of ages. Whoever wiU examine with
care these proofs, which have been collected
for the purpose of establishing by external
evidence the authenticity of the Scriptures of
the New Testament, wiU receive from his
research the fuUest satisfaction.
To these proofs is to be added the strong
internal evidence which the books themselves
contain. The language in which they are
written is a very peculiar language; suffi
ciently varied to shew that they were not
all composed by the same writer, yet in every

Miracles of Christ Established. 113
book highly characteristic of the age and per
sons of their alleged authors. The style is,
however, very difficult to be successfuUy imi
tated, much more to have been invented. To
this consideration must be added the circum
stantiality of the narrative ; the natural manner
in which the names of places and persons are
introduced: the perfect acquaintance which the
writers incidentaUy display with aU the mi
nutest circumstances of the history of the
Jewish people, and of the world at the period
in which they are stated to have been written :
the air of sincerity, and absence of artifice
which pervade them : the close, though evi
dently undesigned, connection between the
several relations of the Evangelists, and be
tween the Epistles of St. Paul and his his
tory, as written by St. Luke.
2. The writings of the New Testament
having been in this manner proved to be,
as they purport, the artless composition of
sincere men, let us observe the nature of the
facts which they disclose, sometimes by express
assertion; and sometimes by indirect allusion.
The Gospel history, although very simple in
its language, relates events of the most astonish
ing kind. It declares that the ordinary course
of nature was repeatedly interrupted. Now
very strong evidence is undoubtedly required
H

114 Lecture VI.
to establish the reality of a miraculous fact.
And such evidence is afforded. We know,
as an indisputable historical truth, that the
apostles passed through the most grievous perils
and sufferings in attestation of those miracles,
of which they had been eye-witnesses ; miracles
in which they could not have been deceived.
We know that they gave up the whole of
their time and labour, sacrificed aU prospects
of advancement, in the mode of life in which
they had been brought up; were exposed to
continual danger, and finaUy suffered a painful
death, merely because they persisted in the
belief of those facts. Therefore no reasonable
man can doubt for a moment that those facts
were true: that is, he cannot doubt that a
person named Jesus appeared upon earth, and
declared himself to be come down from heaven
to do the wUl of God, and that he was the
Son of God: that he performed miracles of
wonder which proved his divine commission:
for he gave sight to the blind, and hearing
to the deaf; he fed multitudes by a morsel;
healed the sick by a touch, by a word, or by
a distant command ; calmed the raging elements ;
restored the dead to fife : that his miracles were
also such merciful works, that as his adversaries
could not deny them, so they could not attribute
them to any evil principle.

Miracles of the Apostles Established. 115
Knowing then these facts to be true, no
reasonable man can for a moment doubt, that
the precepts and commands, which these mira
cles introduced, were from God. This was
the very acknowledgment forced from one, who
certainly at first had no favourable prepossessions
for the gospel of Christ. " Rabbi," said a ruler
of the Jews, " we know that thou art a teacher
come from God : for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with
him."b Besides, in the Epistles of St. Paul, frequent
reference is made to the miraculous powers,
the gift of tongues and prophecy, possessed
by himself and by those to whom he wrote.
These aUusions are made in such a plain,
simple manner, and arise so naturaUy out of
the circumstances of his address, that every
one must feel convinced that they refer to
facts. They are made, too, not with an
intention of setting forth those gifts as pre
eminent marks of divine favour ; but frequently
with the view of shewing that they were, in
themselves, inferior in value to the more
practical graces of the Christian character.
Now, besides that this is a conduct entirely
irreconcileable with the supposition that the
apostle was an enthusiast, and the gifts
b John iii. 2.
H 2

116 Lecture VI.
imaginary, it is quite impossible that these
references should have been made, unless the
powers which they imply had been really
possessed. A credulous mind might believe
a miraculous tale, upon insufficient evidence:
but no men, however ready to be deceived,
could be persuaded that they had witnessed,
and themselves possessed, praeternatural powers,
when in reality they had never witnessed any
miracle, nor possessed any such powers.
We must conclude, therefore, that the
apostles themselves were endowed with mira
culous powers for the propagation of the truths,
which they employed their fives in dissemi
nating. The truth, then, of our religion is thus
established upon the firm foundation of un
doubted miracles, performed for that purpose
both by Christ and his apostles.
3. " The testimony of Jesus" also, " is the
spirit of prophecy."0 We have recently had
occasion to notice several of the more remarkable
predictions which he uttered ;d and observed,
that in the course of his teaching he delivered
to his foUowers many proofs of his perfect
foreknowledge of futurity. He predicted the
events which should happen to himself and
' Rev. xix. 10.
d See the Vlth Hulsean Lecture for 1826.

Prophecies delivered by Christ. 117
his foUowers, to his own nation, and to the
whole world. Many of those predictions have
been accomplished : and some are still fulfilling
before our own eyes.
We are thus irresistibly led to the con
clusion, that a revelation has been made to
man by Jesus Christ ; and that what he taught
has been faithfully recorded : consequently, that
whatever was declared by Christ and his
apostles, is indisputably true ; and that, as far as
they bear testimony, such testimony is sure.
4. Now the words of Christ and his
apostles do bear testimony to another fact
most important in the study of the sacred
volume : that " all Scripture is given by
inspiration of God."e Those books which are
written by an apostle of Christ, ratified by
the authority of his name, and introduced by
the assertion of his apostolic character/ are,
by that very assertion, impressed with the seal
of inspiration. For the dignity of an apostle
is invariably alleged to be greater than that
of any other person, however highly favoured
by inspiration of God.g
The same authority is ascribed to those
' 2 Tim. iii. 16.
f 1 Cor. i. 1. 2 Cor. i. 1. Eph. i. 1. Col. i. 1. 1 Tim. i. 1.
2 Tim. i. 1. Tit. i. 1—3. Gal. i. 1.
B 1 Cor. xii. 28. Eph. iv. 11.

118 Lecture VI.
books which are written by the apostles, even
when the express assertion of this authority
is not made. Christ himself, at several times,
in the course of his ministry, promised his
followers the assistance of the Holy Spirit,
When he sent forth the twelve, and predicted
the sufferings which they should undergo, he
assured them that they should receive the aid
of inspiration. " Ye shaU be brought before
governors and kings for my sake, for a testis
mony against them and the Gentiles. But
when they shall deliver you up, take no thought
how or what- ye shall speak : for it shaU be
given you in that same hour what ye shall
speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you."h
On another occasion, Jesus made a similar
promise to his disciples, in the presence of an
innumerable multitude of people.1 And he
repeated it at a still subsequent period."
Neither was this promise confined to the
particular circumstances in which it was made,
Immediately before his death, our Saviour
promised his apostles another Comforter, who
should abide with them for ever, even the
Spirit of truth; who should teach them all
things, and bring all things to their remem*
11 Matt. x. 18—20. ' Luke xii. 11, 12.
k Mark xiii. 11. Luke xxi. 12 - 15.

Inspiration of the New Testament. 119
brance, whatsoever Christ had said unto them.1
These words most plainly promise the extra
ordinary gift of the Holy Spirit, to suggest
to the minds of the apostles what they should
speak. The object of our Lord having been to
encourage his apostles in publishing the Gospel,
which was, in the first instance, to be performed
by preaching, his words do not indeed prove
that the same inspiration was extended to the
writings of the apostles. Yet they afford
a very strong presumption that the same divine
superintendence, which regulated their words,
did also operate upon their writings.
If we turn to the writings themselves, and
enquire what claim to inspiration the apostles
advance; we shaU find them always speaking
with authority, appearing not to think it neces
sary to prove their inspiration, but assuming
it as an acknowledged fact ; and incidentaUy
making mention of it in the calm language
of conscious truth. If indeed an apostle, in
the exercise of his ministry, had occasion to
write, we cannot conceive that he would hold
a different doctrine, or that he could have
received the knowledge of it in a different
manner, from that which characterized his oral
discourses. The memory of the apostles was
1 John xiv. 16 — 26.

120 Lecture VI.
strengthened, and their mental faculties en
larged, by the assistance of God's Holy Spirit:
and we cannot conceive that they were deprived
of that assistance, at the time when it would
be most wanted, when they sat down to commit
to writing the relation of facts, which they
had so frequently delivered in the course of
their inspired verbal preaching.
Now we find St. Paul writing to the
Corinthians, and making the fullest claim to
divine inspiration in his teaching. " My speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words
of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power."1" " We have received
not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God; that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth : comparing spiritual things
with spiritual."" We cannot doubt, knowing
the words of the apostle to be the words of
truth and soberness, that his speech was in
spired. And the very misrepresentations of
his adversaries forbid the supposition that his
bodily presence was so weighty and powerful,
but his letters comparatively weak;0 an hypo-
m 1 Cor. ii. 4. » 1 Cor. ii. 12, 13.
" 2 Cor. x. 10.

Inspiration of the New Testament. 121
thesis which must yet be supported by any
one, who would regard the speech of the
apostle as suggested by immediate inspiration,
and his writings as produced by the unassisted
powers, however great, of his own mind.
In another part of the same Epistle to
the Corinthians, he appeals to those who
possessed spiritual gifts, to acknowledge that
the things which he wrote unto them were
the commandments of God:p and he is most
careful to notice those parts of his advice
which were given as the result of his own
judgment, or were in any degree doubtful,
and those in which he spoke by divine com
mand."1 St. Peter also, himself an apostle, expressly
enumerates the writings, of St. Paul among
the other Scriptures/ evidently meaning by
that term such as were divinely inspired.
The consideration of passages such as these
necessarUy leads to the conclusion, that the
writings of the apostles, which have been
handed down to us in a state of general
accuracy, and contain a true statement of
all the facts which they relate, were also
p 1 Cor. xiv. 37- " 1 Cor. vii. 6, 10, 12, 25,, 40.
' 2 Pet. iii. 16. Divine authority appears to be here
ascribed to St. Paul's writings, whether the true reading of
the passage is, ei> .ok tim dvcrvorird Tina, or iv ak.

122 Lecture VI.
originally dictated by the inspiration of the
Spirit of God.
The inspiration of those parts of the New
Testament which were written by the evan^
gefists St. Mark and St. Luke, is a fact which
is to be established upon somewhat different
grounds. They are proved by undoubted
evidence to have been written by the persons
whose names they bear: they were approved
of, respectively, by two of the apostles, St. Peter
and St. Paul, whom the writers accompanied:
and they have been invariably received, from
the apostolic age, with the same reverence
as the other books of the New Testament.
This uninterrupted testimony proves that these
writings always formed a part of the sacred
canon, up to the period when the fact of
their inspiration could be known by verbal
testimony. For these reasons we receive also
those books, as forming a part of canonical
Scripture, and as divinely inspired.
The difficult enquiry, to what precise extent
the inspiration of the Scriptures of the New
Testament reached, faUs not within the scope
of our present intention. It is sufficient to
know, that the Scriptures, thus proceeding from
the Spirit of truth, may be fuUy relied upon
as being free from all essential errors ; and that
thus, " the testimony of the Lord is sure."

Divine Authority of the Old Testament. 123
5. The divine authority of the New Testa
ment being thus established, that of the Old
Testament cannot be denied: because it is ex
pressly and repeatedly recognized both by Christ
and his apostles. Christ declares that " aU the
prophets and the law prophesied until John."8
He comprizes the whole duty of man in two
short precepts, and declares that on these two
commandments hang all the law and the pro
phets.' When Christ referred to the Scriptures
of the Old Testament, as writings of indispu
table authority," and declared " that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms
concerning him,"x he aUuded in explicit and well
known terms to aU the books of the Old Testa
ment, and acknowledged their infallibility. After
his ascension his apostles constantly refer to the
same Scriptures.7 And St. Peter, especially,
declares that "holy men of old spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost."2
Upon the authority of assertions such as
these, we must receive the Scriptures, to which
they refer, as undoubtedly inspired.
6. The only question, which can be fairly
" Matth. xi. 13. ' Matth. xxii. 40.
" Luke xxiv. 25, 26. x Luke xxiv. 44.
y Acts i. 20. iii. 22. xxvi. 22. xxviii. 23.
z 2 Pet. i. 21.

124 Lecture VI.
raised, is whether the books which we possess are
the same books which then existed, having been
transmitted from the period when they were
first written by their alleged authors.
On this point, testimony has been coUected
amply sufficient to satisfy the most scrupulous
mind. • Independently of the catalogues which
were published, at different periods of the Chris
tian church up to the very age of the apostles,
and of translations which were made as early as
the second century, the very opposition made by
the enemies of our faith has served in this
respect to establish it. The Jews acknowledge
the very same Scriptures of the Old Testament
as ourselves. Josephus, in the age of the apo
stles bears this testimony to the veneration with
which the Scriptures were held, and the accuracy
with which they were preserved, as weU as to
their identity with the books which we now
read. " We have not innumerable books, dis
agreeing with one another, and contradictory, but
twenty-two only. These contain the records of
all past times, and are justly believed to be divine.
Of these, five belong to Moses, and contain his
laws, and the history of the origin of man, until
his own death. This period of time compre
hends nearly three thousand years. From the
death of Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes king
of Persia, who succeeded Xerxes on the throne,

The Canon of the Old Testament. 125
the prophets who foUowed Moses wrote down
what was done in their time, in thirteen books.
The remaining four books contain hymns to
God, and moral precepts for the conduct of life.
How stedfastly we have held fast our faith in
these records of our nation, is evident by our
deeds. For, during so many ages as have since
elapsed, no one has dared to add any thing
thereto, or to take any thing therefrom, or to
make any change therein. It is become as it
were, the very nature of a Jew, from his birth,
to esteem these books as oracles of divine truth :
to abide by them, and, if necessary, readily to
die in their defence. It is no new thing for
numerous captives to be frequently seen endur
ing divers kinds of death, rather than say one
word against our laws, and the records which
they contain."11
These books were always thus kept by the
Jews with the most holy reverence. They were
under the especial guard of a peculiar tribe set
apart for that service. The authentic copy of
the law was preserved in the ark of the covenant
to be read every seven, years. b The Scriptures
a Josephus against Apion, Lib. I. §. 8. That this enumera
tion includes all the books now esteemed canonical, see
Schmidius Historia Antiq. et Vindicatio Canonis Sacri Vet. et
Nov. Test. Lib. i. Sect. i. §. 53, 54.
" Deut. xxxi. 9-

126 Lecture VI.
were ever publicly read in their synagogues.
They were preserved as their most sacred trea
sure. They formed their national code of laws ;
they contained the record of their history, the
promises of their future glory. The providence
of God had thus so ordered their history as
entirely to prevent any material alteration of
their Scriptures.
There are numerous other coUateral proofs,
that we have received the Scriptures of the
Old Testament without material addition or mu
tilation. The Samaritans, most hostile to the
Jews, preserved the Pentateuch of Moses. And
their copy has come down to our own times.
For this portion of the Old Testament we have
therefore the advantage of comparing two copies
perfectly independent : each guarded with jealous
care. The comparison of them shews how smaU
a variation has taken place by the unavoidable
errors of transcription ; while their almost con
stant agreement affords an unanswerable proof of
the authority of those books.
Nearly three hundred years before the Chris
tian aera, the Septuagint version, into the Greek
language, was made ; and whatever authority
this version may be entitled to, it shews, at least,
that the Scriptures of the Old Testament, at
that period, were essentially the same Scriptures
which we now receive.

Prophecies of the Old Testament. 127
7. The divine authority of the Old Testa
ment also is most strongly confirmed by the
" sure word of prophecy."0 A great part of that
sacred book avowedly foretells future events.
Predictions are made in various manners, and
with different degrees of clearness : by intimation,
by plain assertions, by significant actions and
typical prefigurations ; or by a narration of facts
set forth almost with historical precision. These
predictions are of astonishing extent. They some
times foreteU the fate of distant and extensive
empires. They often embrace the lives and
fortunes of individuals. But most commonly
they bear reference to one person, who should
be characterized by the most extraordinary, and
in many respects contradictory endowments.
Many of these prophecies indeed, now explained
by infaUible authority, were of a nature not to
be understood before their fulfilment ; but others
were sufficiently clear to excite the expectation
of the world. The person so predicted was to
be the "first-born" of God, "higher than the
kings of the earth," d and yet " despised and re
jected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief."6 He was to be the Son of David,
and yet his Lord/ His name was to be "called
Wonderful, CounseUer, the mighty God, the
c 2 Pet. i. 19- d Psalm lxxxix. 27.
' Isaiah Iiii. 3. f Matth. xxii. 42. Psalm ex. I.

128 Lecture VI.
everlasting Father, the Prince of peace."8 Yet
he was to be esteemed "stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted."11 His soul was to be made
an offering for sin ; and yet he was to see his
seed and prolong his days.1 Because he had
poured out his soul unto death, there should be
divided to him a portion with the great, and he
should divide the spoil with the strong/ His
grave was to be appointed with the wicked, yet
with the rich man should be his tomb.1 He was
to be the Messiah, the prince, yet should be cut
off, but not for himself."1 Against the Lord and
against his Anointed should the kings of the
earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel."
He was to be born in a manner surpassing the
ordinary course of nature ; he was to be " the
seed of the woman."0 For the Lord was to create
a new thing upon the earth : a woman should
compass a man.p He was to be descended by a
specified line, from Abraham/ from Isaac/ from
Jacob/ from Jesse/ from David.u He was to be
« Isaiah ix. 6. h Isaiah Iiii. 4.
1 Isaiah Iiii. 10. k Isaiah Iiii. 12.
1 Isaiah Iiii. 9. °> Dan. ix. 25, 26.
n Psalm ii. 2. ° Gen. iii. 15.
p Jer. xxxi. 22. « Gen. xii. 3. xviii. 18.
r Gen. xx vi. 4. s Gen. xxviii. 14.
' Isaiah xi. 1.
u Psalm lxxxix. 4, 27- cxxxii. 11. Isaiah vi. 13, 14.
ix. 7. Jer. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 20, 21.

Prophecies of the Old Testament. 129
born in Bethlehem,x and yet brought out of
Egypt.7 As his fife was to be a life of suf
fering, his death was to be brought on by
treachery : his own famUiar friend was to lift
up his heel against him:2 he was to be sold
for thirty pieces of silver: that very money
was to be afterwards expended for a peculiar
purpose.* He was to give his back to the
smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair ; and not to hide his face from
shame and spitting.15 His death was to be of
a most cruel kind. His hands and feet were
to be pierced.0 The heathen were to compass
him about, and to stand staring and looking on
him.d They were to look on him whom they
pierced.6 They were to use these very words,
" He trusted in God that he would deliver
him, let him deliver him if he delight in him."f
They were to part his garments among them,
but for his vesture they were to cast lots. g
They were to give him gaU for his meat, and
in his thirst to give him vinegar to drink/ His
soul was to be made an offering for sin;1 yet
* Micah v. 2. y Hosea xi. 1. as applied Matt. ii. 15.
2 Psalm xli. 9. a Zech. xi. 12, 13.
b Isaiah I. 6. c Psalm xxii. 16.
d Psalm xxii. 16, 17- e Zech. xii. 10.
f Psalm xxii. 8. g Psalm xxii. 18.
" Psalm lxix. 21. s Isaiah Iiii. 10.
I

130 Lecture VI.
was not to be left in heU, neither was the Holy
One of God to see corruption/
That these and numerous other predicted
particulars were fulfilled in the person of Christ,
it requires no laboured study of the sacred
writings to know. The history of the New
Testament displays such a correspondence be
tween the events of the life of Christ, and the
prophecies of the Old Testament, as proves
incontestibly the divine authority of the Scrip
tures of the Old Testament, and the reality of
the revelation made by Christ. No one, ex
cept he be endued with more than human
wisdom, can foresee future events. Therefore
one clear prophecy, much more a succession
of independent prophecies, is an undoubted
evidence that he who delivers it, is Uluminated
from above.
It has been said, indeed, that a fortunate con
jecture may anticipate a future occurrence ; and
that ambiguous expressions may be so ingeni
ously contrived, that any course of events
may appear to be a fulfilment of a predic
tion. But the main prophecies of the Old Tes
tament are subject to neither of these objections.
What happy conjecture could devise the va
rious particulars in the life and character of
Christ? How should a series of independent
k Psalm xvi. 10.

Prophecies of the Old Testament. 131
writers, living in different ages, all conspire to
imagine a person so unlike all that the world
ever produced, in all the years before or since
the coming of Christ? And how could their
predictions have been fulfilled, unless the pro
vidence of God, who inspired his prophets,
had regulated the course of events, so as to bring
to pass his designs. There is a limit beyond
which conjectural prediction cannot extend.
There is no limit to the fore-knowledge and
power of God.
There is also a limit to those expressions,
ambiguous either from their generality, or from
their designed obscurity, with which those, who
have advanced unfounded pretensions to pro
phetic powers, have endeavoured to delude
the world.
A zeal even without knowledge might have
led a worshipper of Jehovah to cry against
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel
to sin; and might have caused him to pro
claim the destruction of his idolatrous rites.
But no pretended prophet could have withered
the hand which was stretehed out against him,
or have declared the name and the family of
that prinee, who should fulfil the prophecy, after
a lapse of more than three centuries.1
When the Jews of old mourned in their
1 1 Kings xiii. 2. 2 Kings xxiii. 16.
i2

132 Lecture VI.
captivity the destruction of their city, a fic
titious oracle might have held out the promise,
that a time would come when their restoration
should take place. But when was it heard
that any voice but the voice of God could
anticipate, by two hundred years, the course of
time, and declare the very person who should
perform the prediction. But it is the voice
of God " that saith of Cyrus, He is my
shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure:
even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be buUt;
and to the temple, Thy foundations . shaU be
laid."m Prophecies such as these could have proceeded
from Him only, with whom one day is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day." He it is, who has given us his Holy
Scriptures for our learning : and thus indelibly
marked them for his own.
Having then, in the Old and New Testa
ment, full proof that they exist now as they
ever did; and that they are given by inspi
ration of God; we have reason to conclude
with David, " The testimony of the Lord is
sure." II. Still it may be said with truth, that
the principal object of religion is to regulate
the lives of all men ; and to prepare them for
m Isaiah xliv. 28. n g pet, Jjj. 3,

The Scriptures make wise the Simple. 133
eternal happiness: and that comparatively few
have leisure, or opportunity, or ability, to pursue
for their own conviction those intricate inves
tigations, which are sometimes required, in
tracing, through aU its branches, the evidence
of our religion's truth. That, besides, the pre
cepts of that religion, when firmly established,
should be so plain and simple, that the most
unlearned should be able to be thereby made
wise unto salvation. How requisite this is
may be coUected from the excuse which so
many make for their neglect of religion. When
a man is questioned upon this important point,
the very first answer, which he frequently
makes, is that he has been deprived of the
benefit of sufficient education. And he con
ceives this a satisfactory plea for not thinking
at aU upon a subject, which he affects to con
sider so difficult of comprehension. Now if
this excuse be founded in mistake, it is surely
a very dangerous mistake : for religion can
have no influence upon a mind, which rejects
the very thoughts of religion as too high for
its attainment. And that it is a mistake we
may learn from the words of David; who
after he has declared that " the testimony of
the Lord is sure," adds also, that it maketh
wise the simple.
The Psalmist still carries on the contrast

134 Lecture VI.
which he began, between the evidence of the
Deity as obtained from the contemplation of
his works, and from meditating upon his word.
The truths of natural religion, especially
those which are to be obtained from observation
upon the great phenomena of the universe, re
quire much study in order to comprehend them.
Whereas the pure doctrines of Christianity are
easy to be understood, although most difficult
to practise. They are contained in a few pre
cepts most comprehensive and plain, illustrated
by narratives which attract the attention of the
most uncultivated mind. We are required to
love the Lord our God with aU our heart, and
with aU our soul, and with aU our mind, and
with all our strength, and our neighbour as
ourselves.0 To abstain from aU appearance of
evil;p to have fervent charity among ourselves."
We are assured that not every one that saith Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven .;
but he that doeth the will of our Father which
is in heaven / and that "pure religion and un
dented before God and the Father is this: to
visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic
tion, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world.8"
0 Mark xii. 30, 31. p l Thess. v. 22.
' I Pet. iv. 8. > Matth. vii. 21.
5 James 1. 27.

The Scriptures make wise the Simple. 135
Precepts such as these the most unlearned
can comprehend, the most simple can remember.
And if there be found in holy Scripture some
things hard to be understood, they should teach
us that humility which religion requires.
God has not left himself without witness;
for there is contained in his Scriptures evidence
enough to satisfy the most scrupulous enquirer.
But it is the humble, meek, self-abased spirit,
the unobtrusive and pious mind, the simple
in heart made wise unto salvation by the prac
tical application of his doctrines to the regu
lation and comfort of his soul, that is in the
sight of God of the greatest price. The pride
of man must be brought low, the vanity of
" science falsely so called " ' must be humbled,
before a man can be induced to rely with im
plicit confidence upon the sacrifice of Christ
alone as the efficient means of his salvation.
Yet it is this humility which the Scriptures
require, and which the diligent study of them
wiU not fafi by the grace of God to produce.
The word of God, then, which thus claims
our continual meditation, unlike aU other laws,
unites two essential qualifications usually incom
patible. It speaks at once to the learned and to
the unlearned ; to the man of science and to the
unlettered peasant; to all men in all ages and
1 1 Tim. vi. 20.

136 Lecture VI.
in all climes: its sound is gone out into all
lands, and its words unto the ends of the world.
This testimony of the Lord is sure ; and there
fore convinces the understanding : it makes wise
the simple ; and therefore satisfies the heart.

LECTURE VII.
THE RECTITUDE, PURITY, INTEGRITY, AND TRUTH
OF REVEALED RELIGION.

Psalm XIX. 8—9-
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening
the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring
for ever. The judgments of the Lord are true, and
righteous altogether.
Having lately dwelt upon the perfection
of revealed religion, ^nd upon its power of
converting the heart; upon the certainty of
its testimony, and upon its capability of giving
wisdom to the simple; we may now consider
some of the other perfections, which David
ascribes to our faith as delivered in the Holy
Scriptures. I. 1. The first assertion is, that the rule
of life laid down in the Scriptures is plain,
rational, and consistent, "The statutes of the
Lord are right."
Whoever has examined the reasonings of
the heathen philosophers respecting the most

138 Lecture VII.
important points of morafity and religion, must
have noticed, not only how imperfect, but also
how uncertain and contradictory their opinions
were. It was the constant complaint of the
wisest and the best, that the investigation of
truth was intricate, and that all the con
clusions, which they could draw, were unsatis
factory. They arrived perhaps at a general
result; but failed in applying it to particular
instances. Thus, that God should be wor
shipped, was a truth soon deduced from the
fact of his existence, and the relation which
his creatures bear to their Creator. But to
determine the mode of worship, which would
be most pleasing to God, involved principles
which surpassed the powers of unassisted reason.
Upon this important practical question, there
fore, no satisfactorv decision was ever obtained.
In their enquiries respecting it, the sublimest
truth was frequently mingled with absurd
superstition. Not only did different philo
sophers vary from one another, but many
were inconsistent with themselves. In some
of their writings they approved the worship
of various fictitious deities, while in others
they rejected such service as a derogatory and
foolish superstition.3
d See Dr. S. Clarke, Evidence of Natural and Revealed
Religion, ch. vi. 3.

The Statutes of the Lord are Right. 139
Nearly allied to this subject were their
questions respecting the pardon of sin. By
what means the sinner might be restored to
the favour of God; whether the tears of
the sincerest repentance could ever wash away
the stain of guilt; whether all the sacrifices
which they offered had any, and what influence
in propitiating the Deity, or whether a stiU
further satisfaction were requisite — Questions
such as these continually presented themselves
to an enquiring mind: and the absolute im
possibility of determining them threw a shade
of doubt even upon those points, which had
been more clearly traced out.
The very foundation of aU questions of
natural religion, the immortality of the soul,
instead of being laid deep and sure, was very
insecurely fixed. Not to speak of those, who
from the affectation of singularity, or the
deceitful influence of a vicious life upon the
judgment, professed to deny all hope of a
future existence; even those men of great
wisdom and sagacity, who sometimes appeared
to be convinced that the soul was indeed im
mortal, possessed not that firm conviction which
alone can influence the conduct; and some
times suffered the truth to escape altogether
from their minds. The open denial of a future
state, on occasions of the must public nature,

140 Lecture VII.
by those of the highest character and attain
ments/ forms an extraordinary contrast to the
strength of argument, with which, at other
times, they advocated a contrary opinion.
The feelings of doubt, which Cicero so elo
quently expresses, in the person of another,
seem practicaUy to have influenced himself:
" I know not how it is, as long as I am reading,
I give my fuU assent: but when I have laid
aside the book, and begin to reflect within
myself on the immortality of the soul, that
whole conviction vanishes."0
It is notorious what perplexity this diversity
of opinions produced among aU those, who
professedly employed themselves in the search
of truth. But the greatest disadvantage was
undoubtedly this : that opinions so various and

b " De poena, possumus equidem dicere id, quod res habet :
in luctu atque miseriis mortem asrumnarum requiem, non
cruciatum esse : earn cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere : ultra
neque curse neque gaudio locum esse." Orat. Cassar. apud
Sallust. Bell. Cat. L.
" Nam nunc quidem, quid tandem illi maii mors attulit ?
nisi forte ineptiis, ac fabulis, ducimur, ut existimemus, ilium
apud inferos impiorum supplicia perferre  quae si falsa sunt,
id quod omnes intelligunt, quid ei tandem aliud mors eripuit
praeter sensum doloris. Cicero, Orat. pro A. Cluentio, §. 6l.
c " Nescio quomodo, dum lego assentior : cum posui librum,
et mecum ipse de immortalitate animorum ccepi cogitare,
assentio omnis ilia elabitur." Cicero, Tusc. Quaes. I. §. 11.
Dr. S. Clarke on the Evidence, ch. vi. §. 3. quotes these words
as expressing the sentiments of Cicero himself.

The Statutes of the Lord are Right. 141
contradictory never could form a consistent
rule of life ; nor could maxims, depending solely
upon the mutable authority of their proposer,
possess sufficient influence to counteract the
evU passions and habits of mankind. A rule
of life, in order to be effective, must be so
plain as to be easUy understood, so consistent
with itself as not to be mistaken : and must
be established upon authority, which can neither
be denied nor resisted. Such a rule, which
the wisest of unassisted men ineffectuaUy
laboured to propose, has been given to us in
the written word of God. One strict un
yielding law is laid down for all mankind.
The narrow path of duty is accurately defined,
in which aU are commanded to tread. In our
ears is heard a voice behind us ; saying, this
is the way, walk ye in it, when we turn
to the right hand, and when we turn to the
left.d Thus, " the statutes of the Lord are right."
They are agreeable to the precepts of human
reason, but established by far superior authority,
and uniformly consistent, plain, and just.
2. By being thus right, they also rejoice the
heart. An unerring standard of faith and practice
is precisely that kind of assistance, which every
d Isaiah xxx. 21.

142 Lecture VII.
human being must desire, in order to regulate
his moral conduct. Encompassed as we are
on aU sides with objects, the research of
which soon surpasses the limits of our faculties,
we learn to feel our own insufficiency to attain
perfect knowledge of any thing. But, in many
branches of information, this ignorance is only
humiliating. It entails no consequences greatly
injurious. The ardent natural phUosopher may
bitterly regret the comparatively narrow limits,
which are prescribed to his enquiries : but the
greater part of mankind feel little interest,
and no sympathy, for difficulties and distresses,
which they scarcely know even by name.
Entire ignorance, respecting the ultimate causes
of many natural phaenomena, prevents not the
ordinary business of the world, which perhaps
depends upon their constant recurrence, from
going on in its usual course. Our bodily
frames still continue to perform the functions
for which they are so fearfuUy and wonderfully
made, while we know not the mode, in which
some of their most important though obscure
actions are carried on. But in all questions
which influence our moral conduct, in all those
which regard the state of our souls and our
relation to God, ignorance partakes of the nature
of guilt. If this world be indeed, what even reason

The Statutes of the Lord are Right. 143
represents it, a state of probation ; and if upon
our conduct here depends our situation in an
unknown futurity ; if the soul of man survive
the body, and will retain its being and its con
sciousness for ever in some world different from
its present abode ; it becomes imperiously neces
sary for our eternal welfare, that some certain
knowledge should be attained upon these most
momentous points. They are questions not of
mere curiosity, but of vital importance to every
man who is born into this world, the heir of
immortality. That this want was reaUy felt
by those, who made the greatest efforts to arrive
at the truth, there is no need of much research
to shew. Turn to the eloquent pages of the
heathen moralists, and read their confession how
necessary it was for them to know something
more than they could themselves discover. Hear
their avowal that a revelation from heaven was
the only means by which any certainty could
be attained upon these points of the greatest
interest ; the worship of God, the expiation of
sin, the immortality of the soul, and the final
retribution. And observe what an aching void
was experienced in the hearts of those, who
sought in vain for the instruction which we
have received.
Possessing then, as we do, an unerring stand
ard of faith and conduct, just, plain, simple,

144 Lecture VII.
practical, able to make us wise unto salvation,
we will rejoice in it and employ it. We will
agree in word, and declare in deed, that " the
statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart." II. The next property, which David ascribes
to revealed religion, is its purity, by which it
illuminates the understanding : " the command
ment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the
eyes." Compare the religion of Christ with any
other form of worship, which has ever been pro
posed. Bead the description which the apostle
gives, in the first chapter of his Epistle to the
Bomans, confirmed as it is by the testimony of
heathen writers, and then say what those reli
gious tenets must have been, which tolerated
such abominations ; and even made them a part
of their most solemn services. Open the volume
which contains the creed of the Mahometan : and
observe, among many moral precepts, and those
frequently borrowed from the Holy Scriptures,
and some restraints upon the vices of human
nature, how wide a door is opened to profligacy.
Observe the kind of inducements which are held
out to the obedient. See how the worst and
most violent passions are enlisted upon the side
of the Koran, while the pure precepts of the
Gospel condemn the very rising of an impure

The Statutes of the Lord are right. 145
thought, and command us to resist all evil.
Compare, besides, the personal character of Ma
homet and Christ. See the one marshalling his
foUowers in the ranks of battle, promising to
those who faU the impure rewards of a sensual
paradise. FoUow the pretended prophet into
his retirement, and behold him the slave of his
lusts. Then turn to the lowly and pure Jesus,
spotless in his life, holy in his precepts; hear
him declaring that his kingdom is not of this
world, and pronouncing his blessing upon the
pure in heart. FoUow him too into his seclusion,
and behold him prostrate in prayer before his
heavenly Father, continuing aU night in prayer
to God, supplicating blessings upon his disciples ;
and praying not for them only, but for those
also which should believe on him through their
word.6 Of aU the characters which the experience
of ages has witnessed, or the imagination of man
has feigned, not one has approached the unsuUied
purity of our Saviour's life. He stands forth
embodied in a form of holiness, unlike any other
person who ever appeared upon earth. Amidst
all the contradiction of sinners which he endured,
under aU the trials to which he was exposed,
surrounded by enemies eager to catch at every
opportunity to vifify him, no breath of . slander
e John xvii. 20.
K

146 Lecture VII.
ever dared to impeach the purity of his divine
character. And even the more calculating bitter
ness of modern unbelief has respected, what it
dared not deny, the personal sanctity of Jesus.
To the holy example of our Lord, which is
proposed for our imitation, are to be added the
numerous precepts which inculcate purity, as
one of the qualifications of the religious charac
ter. It is he that hath clean hands and a pure
heart, to whom the promise is made that he shall
stand in God's holy place/ It is the pure in
heart who are blessed, because they shaU see
God.g The end of the commandment is charity
out of a pure heart/ One of the most awful
attributes of God, to his sinful creatures, is that
he is of purer eyes than to behold evil.1 His
words are declared, pure words. k And the pro
per object of our love, because very pure.1
And the very first commendation which St.
James gives, as distinguishing the wisdom that
is from above, is that it is pure."1 " Keep thyself
pure," was the command of St. Paul to his
beloved Timothy," for in purity the sum of
religion is contained. Whatsoever things are
pure are to be made the subject of our thoughts.0
f Psalm xxiv. 4. g Matth. v. 8.
h 1 Tim. i. 5. i Hab. i. 13.
k Psalm xii. 6. i Psaim cxix, 14a
m James iii. 17. "1 Tim. v. 22.
° Phil. iv. 8.

The Fear of the Lord is clean. 147
And the purity of God himself is held up as the
model, to which they, who hope for his bliss,
must strive to conform themselves. " Beloved,"
says St. John, " now are we the sons of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shaU be:
but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shaU be like him, for we shaU see him as he is.
And every one that hath this hope in him,
purifieth himself, even as he is pure."p
Systems of morality, devised by man, afford
some toleration for the passions, and some aUow-
ance for the weakness, of human nature; and
thus darken the understanding, by confounding
the distinction of right and wrong. Whereas
the religion of the Scriptures continuaUy offers
for our guidance examples and precepts of the
utmost holiness; "The commandment of the
Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes."
III. Another peculiarity of revealed religion
is, that it is free from superstition and useless
ceremonies, and that, contra-distinguished from
aU other modes of worship, it is applicable to
every age from the beginning to the end of time.
" The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for
ever." Various superstitions have in different ages
risen up to delude mankind. They have enjoyed
a temporary celebrity ; and have in turn faded
p 1 John iii. 2, 3.
K 2

148 Lecture VII.
and passed away. Where are we to look now for
the fair fabric of heathen mythology ? " Where
are the gods of Hamath and Arphad; where
are the gods of Sepharvaim ?" q Like the people
who invented them, they have vanished from
the earth. The place thereof knoweth them
no more.
But not so the refigion which God himself
has revealed. It consists, indeed, of several
parts successively disclosed to the world: but
these all form one harmonious whole. Before
the world was, the scheme of our redemption
was accomplished in the divine counsels: and
immediately after the faU we perceive inti
mations of the wonderful event.1 In the pa
triarchal ages we find occasional though obscure
glimpses of that mercy, which was afterwards
to be vouchsafed to sinful man. In the in
stitution of expiatory sacrifices, we recognize
the trace of the one propitiatory offering which
was in the fulness of time to be made. In
the offering up of Isaac, we observe Abraham
enabled to see " Christ's day."8 The Divine
counsels were displayed, unaltered from age
to age, in a series of express promises, made
to Adam/ to Abraham," to Isaac,x to Jacob/
" Isaiah xxxvi- 1.9- >¦ Gen. iii. 15.
S John viiL 56- « Gen. iii. 15.
u Gen. xii. 1—3. xvii. lp. xxii. 18- ^ Gen. xxvi. 3, 4.
y Gen. xxxv. 10, 12.

The Fear of the Lord is clean. 149
to Judah.z Then we have Moses brought forth
to be a lawgiver, and holding out the promise
of a prophet who should be raised up like unto
himself.3 We have a people separated from
the rest of the world, governed by peculiar laws
and ordinances, and subject to ceremonial rites,
not as mere external observances, but as the
shadows and representations of what should
hereafter be fulfilled. They sacrifice the pas
chal lamb. It indicates the Lamb of God.
They are healed by the brazen serpent lifted
up in the wilderness. It exhibits a figure of
the Son of man, who so also should be lifted
up, that aU who believe on him, should not
perish, but have eternal life/ They eat manna
in the wilderness, even angels' food. It is a
symbol of that bread of fife which came down
from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and
not die :c the hidden manna, which was to be
given to eat to him that overcometh/ As
also " they did aU eat the same spiritual meat,"
so did they " aU drink the same spiritual drink,
for they drank of that spiritual rock that fol
lowed them ; and that rock was Christ." e Be
fore the Israelites are established in the land
of promise, the attention of the world is
c Gen. xlix. 10. * Deut. xviii. 15.
b John iii. 14, 15. c John vi. 33, 50.
d Rev. ii. 17- * 1 Cor. x. 13.

150 Lecture VII.
directed to the Star which should come out of
Jacob, and the sceptre which should rise out
of Israel. f After that period, the prophets of
the Old Testament are raised up in succession,
all speaking the same language, aU referring
to the same event.
In the fulness of time the Messiah comes.
In him are accomplished aU the promises, pre
dictions, and types. The separate existence of
the Jewish nation, as God's peculiar people,
having accomplished its purpose, ceased. To
the whole world were the words of salvation
sent. The feet of them that bring good tidings
of good, that pubfish salvation, have been seen
on all mountains ; and as this religion has con
tinued from the commencement of the world,
so we know it shaU continue to the end of
time. His salvation shall be for ever; and
his righteousness shall not be abolished. g
The true religion is thus peculiarly fitted
for perpetuity, because it is undebased by su
perstitious observances, and ordinances of un
necessary severity. The fear of the Lord is
clean, and therefore endureth for ever. The
votaries of aU other religions have been weighed
down with the heavy burdens which the in
stitutions of man imposed. Human victims
have been immolated upon their altars, or
' Numb. xxiv. 17- s Tsaiah jj g

The Fear of the Lord is clean. 151
crushed beneath the car of their idols. Pain
ful austerities, ceaseless vigils, perpetual ab
stinence, the scourge, and the rack, have been
the instruments, by which they have endeavour
ed to appease the wrath of their sanguinary
gods. Their very children have been made
to pass through the fire: they have given
their first-born for their transgression ; the
fruit of their body for the sin of their soul.
Far different are the sacrifices which our re
ligion enjoins. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit. He enjoins the offering up of
ourselves a living sacrifice; the dedication of
our lives to the service of God, whose com
mandments are not grievous. He requires the
keeping of his sabbath, as a day of rest unto
holiness.; and the celebration of the sacraments,
which have been ordained in the church of
Christ. But chiefly he requires, what alone
gives aU external institutions any real value,
the inward ornament of a holy life, according
to the precepts revealed "in his Gospel. " He
hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?h
Any religion, indeed, may be abused by
the perverseness of mankind; and in contem-
" Micah vi. 8.

152 Lecture VII.
plating the world we observe with regret many
of those, who call themselves Christians, debased
and degraded by superstition. We observe
" the mystery of iniquity " stUl working, " with
aU deceiveableness of unrighteousness,"1 and
stiU hear them "forbidding to marry and
commanding to abstain from meats, which
God hath created to be received with thanks
giving of them which believe and know the
truth." k These however have not known of
what spirit they were. They have introduced
ordinances hard to be borne, and the traditions
of men, which they bind upon the consciences
of their brethren. These austerities form no
part of the religion of Christ. Unshackled
by ceremonial observances, the fear of the
Lord, which it teaches, is clean : his yoke
is easy and his burden is light.
IV. The next peculiarity, which the Psalm
ist notices as belonging to revealed religion, is
that it is perfectly true and just. " The judge
ments of the Lord are true, and righteous
altogether." To the religion which we profess is ascribed
in Holy Scripture the attribute of truth, in
several senses.
1. It is true, as being utterly at variance
with all falsehood, both in itself and in those
'' 2 Thess. ii. 7. k 1 Tim. iv. 3.

The Judgments of the Lord are true. 153
who profess it. In itself we have before seen
that it is totally free from error and deceit,
and in that sense true. And in those who
profess it, truth and sincerity are especially
required, as indications of the power of their
religious principles. "Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts,"1 is the address of
David unto God. " Speak ye every man the
truth to his neighbour,"1" was one of the
especial commands given by God to his people.
And among those who are represented as
excluded for ever from the heavenly promises,
is especiaUy named, " whosoever loveth and
maketh a fie."n In the sense, then, of opposi
tion to aU falsehood, " The judgments of the
Lord are true."
2. Truth also is in Scripture ascribed
to the Almighty and his revealed will, in
the sense of sincerity and fidelity in keeping
the promises, and threatenings contained in
the Scriptures. In this sense it is declared
that " the Lord is the true God."0 His truth
in executing his promises is declared to be
co-extensive with his mercy which makes them.
" Thy mercy is great unto the heavens," says
David, " and thy truth unto the clouds."1*
1 Psalm li. 6. m Zech. viii. 16'.
"Rev. xxii. 15. ° Jer. x. 10.
p Psalm lvii. 10.

154 Lecture VII.
Truth of this nature ascribed to our] religion
is one of its fundamental distinctions, for upon
it must be founded aU our belief and con
fidence. As he makes his gracious promises,
so we know that faithful is he that caUeth
us, who also will do it.q
3. Again, truth is peculiarly ascribed to
the final revelation of God's wiU made in the
Gospel. The Christian religion is called the
truth:1 and it is separated -from every other
form of worship by the same distinctive term.
" The law was given by Moses," says St. John,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."5
Our Saviour declared of himself that he was
"the way and the truth and the life:'" that to
bear witness to the truth was a principal end
of his coming into the world." He said to
those Jews who believed on him, " If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my dis
ciples indeed: and ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shaU make you free."x And
one of the most consoling promises which he
made to his disciples before his death was,
that "when He, the Spirit of truth, should
come, he should guide them unto aU truth."y
i 1 Thess. v. 24. ¦ Gal. iii. 1.
1 John i. 17- ' John xiv. 6.
11 John xviii. 37. * John viii. 31, 32-
v John xvi. 13.

The Conclusion. 155
In this meaning, revealed religion, which com
municates the doctrine of the Gospel, is especiaUy
true. 4. Beal religion is also characterized by truth,
as distinguished from mere formality and hypo
crisy. Thus we are commanded to draw near
to God with a true heart,2 in full assurance
of faith : and reminded that " if we say we
have no sin we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us."a
Justly, therefore, does David ascribe truth
and righteousness to a religion, which requires
truth in the inward parts, detests aU falsehood,
is most faithful in performing with truth the
promises which it makes, is emphaticaUy and
peculiarly styled, " The Truth ;" and demands,
of those who receive it, unfeigned and true
obedience. Blest, then, as we are with so precious
a revelation from above, so perfect, converting
the soul; so sure, making wise the simple;
so right, rejoicing the heart ; so pure, enlighten
ing the eyes ; so true and righteous altogether ;
how careful should we be duly to appreciate
this inestimable benefit. The Scriptures are
given, not merely to be admired for their
superiority over all human compositions ; not
' Heb. x. 22. a 1 John i. 8.

156 Lecture VII.
merely to furnish that polemical armour, by
which the shafts of infidelity may be repeUed;
but they are given as our guide and our
counsellor, in aU the temptations and perils
of a sinful world. They teach us upon in-
faUible authority the dealings of God with
man. They teach us how the penitent may
obtain pardon. They open to us an accurate
view of the world in which we live, and of
that to which we are hastening. They explain
the intentions of providence in the mysterious
transactions of this life : what death is : what
judgment wiU be.
Be it, then, our care continually to study
them, as the oracles of divine truth; for in
them, and in them only, we have the words
of eternal life. Let us read them, not coldly,
not as a task ; still less with any spirit of
light cavUling at their minute difficulties ; but
with the seriousness, which the word of God
demands, and the responsibility of man requires.
So may we hope, through the influence of
that Holy Spirit, which is promised to the
patient enquirer and diligent hearer of God's
word, to be made wise unto salvation.

LECTURE VIIL
THE ADVANTAGE AND PLEASURE DERIVED FROM
THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Psalm XIX. 10.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea,
than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey,
and the honey-comb.
Ihe two principal pursuits, which engage
the attention of mankind in this life, are
those of interest and pleasure ; the one afford
ing the means of future enjoyment, the
other promising immediate gratification. In
this passage, David, still referring to that
revelation which God has given us in the
Scriptures, asserts that religion, as an object of
pursuit, is preferable to both these.
I. It is very customary, especially in
poetic diction, to assume one prominent object
as a representation of all objects of a similar

158 Lecture VIIL
kind. Thus gold is selected as the symbol,
by which all earthly advantages, derived from
the possession of wealth, are designated. A
competent portion of the goods of this life-
is undoubtedly an innocent, and even a
laudable excitement to honest industry. The
providence of God has so wisely constituted the
affairs of the world, that each individual, labour
ing in his respective caUing, and often pursuing
it without a very enlarged view of the relative
bearings of different parts of society, most ef
fectually promotes his own happiness and the
general good. It is the abuse of the pursuit
of riches, which becomes reprehensible and
criminal. And so liable are they to be abused,
that the Scriptures, in many places, caution us
in the strongest terms against their seductive
influence. The objects of earthly pursuit so nearly and
so continuaUy solicit the attention, that there
is always great cause of alarm, lest men should
be entirely absorbed in their search after the
riches and advantages of the world, and neglect
their more real and permanent interests. In
order to counteract this peril, and to display
the superiority which the Scriptures possess,
as leading to a religious life, David declares
that they are "more to be desired than gold;
yea than much fine gold."

Religion preferable to Riches. 159
1. " Godliness with contentment is great
gain,"a so that religion is superior to worldly
riches, by superseding them. " In the house
of the righteous," says Solomon, " there is much
treasure." b A pious mind wiU be contented
and happy in the deepest poverty : an avaricious
mind will be most miserable in the midst of
affluence. 2. But there is another cause which renders
religious advancement a more desirable object
of pursuit than riches ; it is never sought with
out success. Various as are the schemes which
worldly riches suggest, painful as are the labours
which they excite, the toU is frequently bestow
ed in vain. The most complicated plans, which
human ingenuity can devise, are often over
thrown by causes which no prudence could
foresee, no care prevent. Years of anxious
thought and ceaseless exertion not unfrequently
terminate in disappointment. But he who,
with a sincere heart, endeavours 'to attain the
true riches which God has given by his word,
shaU experience no failure. His progress may
be slow. He may frequently have occasion to
complain of the hardness of his heart, and the
difficulty of obedience. But if he rely not
upon his own power, but upon the grace of
God which is sufficient for him, he will go on
a 1 Tim. vi. 6'. b Prov. xv. 6.

160 Lecture VIIL
from strength to strength, so as to attain the
inestimable prize which is proposed to his ex
ertions. 3. Again, the advantages of religion are
more to be desired than gold, because they are
unfading. Short lived indeed are aU the gra
tifications which depend solely upon this fife.
Scripture represents them aU, and especiaUy
riches, by images of the most fleeting kind.
Hear the words of Solomon, who certainly
experienced as much as any man what are
the real advantages of wealth. " Labour not
to be rich.... Wilt thou set thine eyes upon
that which is not? for riches certainly make
themselves wings. They flee away as an eagle
towards heaven."0
But the advantages, which religion affords^
are as permanent as the God who grants them.
There is in them no variableness. They con
tinue from age to age, an object of pursuit
most desirable and most certain.
4. Earthly riches too, although sought with
the greatest avidity, and pursued with the most
unremitting perseverance, are, at best, but a
very uncertain blessing. How many, after the
successful termination of their labours, sigh for
the comparative freedom from care, which they
enjoyed at an earlier period of their lives.
L Prov. xxiii. 4, 5.

Religion preferable to Riches. 161
How many confess that the success, which
renders them objects of envy to others, might,
with greater propriety, claim their pity.
Advancement in religious acquirement is
accompanied with no such inconvenience. Who
ever pursues it as his chief good, knows that it
is, in this respect, far more to be desired than
gold, yea than much fine gold. He who is
most advanced in the Christian course looks
back upon his past fife, with deep regret for
the sins which he has committed, and with
sincere thankfulness for the grace, which has
often kept him from faUing. But before him
there is always held out some new object of
attainment; a higher elevation to be reached
by fresh exertion, and to be rewarded by a
greater recompence. The sentiments of St. Paul
will be those of every sincere foUower of Christ :
" Brethren, I count not myself to have appre
hended; but this one thing I do: forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before; I
press toward the mark, for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus." d
With reason, then, might the Psalmist
prefer the study of revealed religion, by which
alone any effectual advancement in holiness
d Phil. iii. 13, 14.
L

162 Lecture VIIL
can be anticipated, to the pursuit of earthly
riches. II. The second part of the assertion made
by David is, that the study and practice of
religion are to be preferred to aU earthly
pleasures: not only are they "more to be
desired than gold ;" but they are " sweeter also
than honey and the honey-comb," Sweetness
of taste is one of the most obvious metaphors,,
under which any thing which delights the
senses can be signified: and honey is naturally
selected as the sweetest substance in ordinary
use, among the simple and inartificial inhabit
ants of the East. The same comparison is made
by David in another Psalm. " How sweet are
thy words unto my taste : yea sweeter than
honey to my mouth."6 And Solomon em
ploys the same figure : " My son, eat thou
honey, because it is good, and the honey-comb
which is sweet to thy taste : so shall the know
ledge of wisdom be unto thy soul."f This
familiar image acquires an additional propriety,
when it is considered, that honey was often
used as the pecufiar symbol of sensual pleasure ;
and perhaps for that reason was expressly for
bidden, in the law of Moses, to be burnt upon
the altar of God.s
< Psalm cxix. 103. f Prov. xxiv. 13, 14.
E Lev. ii. 11.

Religion preferable to earthly Pleasures. 163
Now to assert, that religion promises more
present pleasure than the gratification of sense,
is to advance a proposition, which many are
inclined to deny; if not by word, at least by
deed. Those who find the restraints of religion,
what they are intended to be, a barrier against
the indulgence of their passions, have always
been ready to represent a religious life as a
hard service. They see little prospect of de
light, in studying and obeying a code of re
gulations, which forbids the exercise of all
licentiousness, however confirmed and endeared
by habit. They notice the firm demeanour of
religion; the calm severity of her aspect; the
majestic dignity of her step ; and judging from
their own prepossessions, they rashly and un
wisely pronounce that, although her ways may
be the ways of security, they are not the ways
of pleasantness, that her paths are not peace.
When the conclusions of man's reasoning are
thus expressly opposed to the assertions of God's
word, we know on whose side the error lies. But
that we may see how reaUy irrational such a con
clusion is, let us observe some of the pleasures,
which more immediately accompany the study
of the Scriptures ; reserving those, which attend
the practice of religion, for a future occasion.
1. Every man of a cultivated mind will
allow, that some of our purest and most rational
L 2

164 Lecture VIIL
pleasures are derived from studying those works
of eloquence and imagination, which have, for a
succession of ages, continued to delight the
world. Many of those, who have been the most
ardent advocates for enjoying the fleeting plea
sures of sense, have yet, in their hours of solitude
and calm retirement, been sensible of literary
enjoyment. They have sometimes distinguished
themselves as the most enthusiastic admirers, and
successful foUowers, of the poets and orators of
antiquity. Now to a mind, capable of appreci
ating all that constitutes the charm of language
and sentiment, where can so rich a feast be offer
ed as in the volume of the Scriptures ? Where
shall we discover such various and natural de
scriptions, such touching tenderness ; such beau
tiful simplicity ; such terrible sublimity ? The
lover of poetry may find the most admired
human compositions surpassed, in the hymns of
triumph scattered throughout the Pentateuch ;
in the devotional effusions of David; in the
sublime descriptions of the book of Job. The
admirer of empassioned eloquence may find, in
the addresses of the Hebrew prophets, and espe
cially in the writings of St. Paul, instances of a
strength of conception, and a copiousness and
power of language, unequalled in Grecian and
Boman literature. Those passages of the hea
then poets, which have been selected as models

Subjects treated of in the Scriptures. 165
of pathetic composition, are inferior to the elegy
pronounced by David over Jonathan.1" The
most tender sentiments, which mere imagination
ever suggested, faU short of those, which are so
elegantly displayed in the histories of Joseph
and of Buth ; and especially in the narrative of
our Saviour's life and sufferings.
2. The beauties of style, however, which
adorn the Scriptures, are incidental advantages :
and a great portion of their charm arises from
the fact, that they are not studiously displayed,
but spring naturally from the subjects which are
treated of. Independently of the manner, in
which they are thus recommended, the subjects
themselves open the most noble field for contem
plation to every reflecting mind.
(1.) If a man would exercise the powers of his
understanding, the sacred volume displays an
inexhaustible variety of great and noble objects.
It commands us to be ready to give to every one
that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us;1
and therefore caUs for the exercise of aU our
rational faculties; for patience to collect, and
carefulness to arrange, and judgment to weigh
the proofs, which establish our faith. It treats
also of aU which is great and noble ; of the Al
mighty God himself; of his perfections; of his
nature ; of his providence. It proposes for our
h 2 Sam. i. 17, 27- i 1 Pet. iii. 15.

166 Lecture VIIL
contemplation a Being who is a spirit, without
body, without parts, without passions ; subject
to neither chance nor change; existing, from
eternity to eternity, the same. It overwhelms
every mind, however accustomed to reflect upon
number and magnitude, with the conception of
the unlimited power of God, set forth in the
variety of his works. It perplexes the most
subtle, with the consideration of his universal
presence ; of that mysterious existence, which
pervades at once all parts of infinite space with
out distraction. It astonishes us, who can con
ceive of time only as made up of successive parts
of duration, by speaking of " the high and lofty
One, that inhabiteth eternity;"11 who dweUs, as
it were, at once in aU the moments of infinite
duration, with whom the past and the future are
the same as the present; and, in the strictest
sense, incomprehensible by us, one day is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.1
It raises our thoughts far beyond the limits of
human comprehension, when it fixes them upon
the wonderful union of infinite justice with
infinite mercy: upon the truth of Him, who
cannot lie :m upon the wisdom of Him, who is
the only wise God :" upon the holiness of Him,
k Isaiah lvii. 15. ' 2 Pet. iii. 8.
m Heb. vi. 18. * i Tim. i. 17.

The Scriptures exercise the Understanding. 167
who cannot look on iniquity :° upon the justice
of Him, who "is righteous in all the works
which He doth :"p upon the benevolence of Him,
whose goodness endureth continuaUy. q
The Scriptures also open to the enquiring
mind of man, vast subjects of speculation, pecu
fiar to revealed religion. They disclose as much
as it is fitting for us to know, respecting the
very nature of God. They speak of the three
distinct persons, all united in one Divine essence.
They set forth the wonderful manner, in which
full satisfaction was made to inflexible justice
for the sins of offending man : they describe the
nature and influence of the Holy Spirit. They
offer the means of unravelling the apparent con
fusion, in which the events of this world are
involved. They speak of time, and of eternity :
of the life which now is, and of that which is to
come : of heaven, and of heU ; of death, and of
judgment. Many of the subjects, thus treated of in
Scripture, are, indeed, too wonderful and excel
lent to be fuUy comprehended by the mind of
man. But they offer an unbounded field of
rational contemplation, for the employment of
the understanding, with which the bounty of
the Creator has endowed him.
° Hab. i. 13. p Dan. ix. 14. « Psalm Hi. 1.

168 , Lecture VIIL
(2.) They also, whose minds are better qua^
lifted to receive pleasure through the medium of
their imagination, may find in the study of the
Scriptures, subjects upon which they may dweU
with peculiar delight. AU that is terrible and
majestic, all that is glorious and splendid, aU
that is beautiful, all that is engaging, are in
turn displayed in that sacred volume. In what
other book shaU we find a series of images so
magnificent, as those with which David describes
the coming of the Lord ? " The earth shook and
trembled, the foundations also of the hills moved
and were shaken, because he was wroth. There
went up a smoke out of his nostrUs, and fire out
of his mouth devoured ; coals were kindled by it.
He bowed the heavens also, and came down;
and darkness was under his feet. And he rode
upon a cherub and did fly : yea, he did fly upon
the wings of the wind. He made darkness
his secret place : his pavilion round about him
were dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.
At the brightness that was before him, his thick
clouds passed ; haUstones and coals of fire. The
Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the
Highest gave his voice; haUstones and coals
of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and
scattered them; and he shot out lightnings,
and discomfited them. Then the channels of
waters were seen, and the foundations of the

The Scriptures delight the Imagination. 169
world were discovered, at thy rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils."'
Neither is imagery of this nature confined
to the poetical parts of Scripture. The grandeur
of the transactions, which are related, elevates
the style even of its histories. Where shaU
we search elsewhere for a description of a real
event, which so fills the imagination, as the
descent of Jehovah upon Mount Sinai, at the
giving of the Law ? " Mount Sinai was
altogether on a smoke ; because the Lord
descended upon it in fire : and the smoke
thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace :
and the whole mount quaked greatly. And
when the voice of the trumpet sounded long,
and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake,
and God answered him by a voice."8
EquaUy sublime is the description of the
Almighty passing by the cave, in which Elijah
had taken refuge. " Behold the Lord passed
by. And a great and strong wind rent the
mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before
the Lord ; but the Lord was not in the wind :
And after the wind an earthquake ; but the
Lord was not in the earthquake : and after
the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not
¦' Psalm xviii. 7 — 15. 2 Sam. xxii. 8— 16.
¦ Exod. xix. 18, 19.

170 Lecture VIIL
in the fire: and after the fire, a stUl small

voice.'"

Time would fail me to enumerate the
passages of the same kind, which might easuy
be coUected.
StUl more majestic are the intimations,
occasionally dispersed throughout the sacred
writings, respecting the splendour which ac
companies the more immediate presence of
God in heaven. The Scriptures indeed, usuaUy
expressed in the words of soberness as well
as of truth, do not frequently dwell upon
the glories of the celestial state, except for the
purpose of exciting our desires and our wishes
to be made partakers of it. They rather
imply, than describe, the inconceivable glory
of God. They speak of Him " who is the
blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings
and Lord of lords; who only hath immor
tality ; dweUing in the light which no man
can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen,
nor can see."" They allude to " the appearance
of the likeness of the glory of the Lord;"x to
the " unspeakable words, which it is not lawful
for a man to utter."7 They thus lead our minds
to ideas of the grandeur and magnificence of
God, generally without using any definite words,
' 1 Kings xix. 1], 12. u 1 Tim. vi. 15, 16.
s Ezek. i. 28. " 2 Cor. xii. 4.

The Scriptures delight the Imagination. 171
which might probably excite erroneous impres
sions. But sometimes the veU is partiaUy
withdrawn; and we are permitted to catch,
as it were, a distant view even of the glory
of the heavenly throne. The beloved St. John
was favoured with a vision of this nature,
and commissioned to write it for the informa
tion of the Christian churches. " I was in
the Spirit," says the apostle, "and, behold,
a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on
the throne. And he that sat was to look
upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And
there was a rainbow round about the throne,
in sight like unto an emerald. And round about
the throne were four and twenty seats : and
upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders
sitting, clothed in white raiment: and they
had on their heads crowns of gold. And out
of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunder-
ings, and voices. . . And in the midst of the
throne, and round about the throne, were four
beasts, full of eyes, before and behind. . . And
the four beasts had each of them six wings
about him ; and they were full of eyes within :
and they rest not day and night saying,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which
was, and is, and is to come. And when those
beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks,
to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for

172 Lecture VIIL
ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall
down before the throne, and worship him that
liveth for ever; and cast their crowns before
the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory, and honour, and power: for
thou hast created aU things ; and for thy pleasure
they are, and were created."2
It becomes us not to examine, with too
great curiosity, the things which are. thus
revealed for our encouragement. The expres
sions used, although designedly taken from
things which we can see, in order that we
may be able in some measure to comprehend
them, shew that they reaUy describe a glory,
greater than the eye of man could endure, or
his heart conceive. And the book which con
tains them, while it makes man wise unto
salvation, places before his imagination objects
which far surpass the conception of the most
fertile invention.
In other parts of the Scriptures, the mind
is refreshed with the most pleasing images of
calmness and repose. We are led through
green pastures, and beside the stUl waters.
The voice of instruction is modulated to the
most harmonious numbers ; and precepts, suffi
ciently attractive by their importance, receive
z Rev. iv. 2 — 11.

The Scriptures engage the Affections. 173
additional charms from the beautiful form,
in which they are embodied.
(3.) Again, the study of the Scriptures is
peculiarly adapted to delight the mind, by
most forcibly engaging the affections. Not
to speak, now, of the tenderness and delicacy
of sentiment, which adorn many parts of the
sacred volume; the subjects displayed are
calculated to caU forth in us the most vivid
emotions of gratitude and love. The Scrip
tures describe the universe, as filled with the
goodness of God. They dweU upon the benevo
lence, which is so conspicuous in all his material
works. They refer to the deep, which covereth
the earth like a garment; and is replenished
with things creeping innumerable, which aU
wait upon God: to the waters, which go up
by the mountains and down by the vaUeys,
which God hath founded for them: to the
springs, which are sent into the valleys, and
run among the hills. a They represent every
thing which we enjoy in this life, as the
immediate gift of our heavenly Father ; in
whom we live, and move, and have our
being. b
Above aU, the Scriptures declare the incon
ceivable mercies of our redemption. They
a Psalm civ. b Acts xvii. 28.

174 Lecture VIIL
describe man in his fallen state, dead in
trespasses and sins; and subject to everlasting
misery. They contrast the purity of God with
this wickedness of man. They set forth the
mercy of God, who pitieth them that fear
him, like as a father pitieth his own children,0
They speak of Him as long-suffering, patient,
gracious, good. They transmit the grievous
complaints of those, who felt conscious of then-
own guilt, and of their inabUity to save them
selves. They contain that complaint of Job;
" If I wash myself with snow water, and
make my hands never so clean : yet wUt thou
plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes
shaU abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am,
that I should answer him, and we should come
together in judgment. Neither is there any
days-man betwixt us, that might lay his hand
upon us both."d Then they display the mercy
of God, which devised a remedy for so great
an evil ; that where sin abounded, grace might
much more abound.6 They speak comfortably
to the people of God, who have received of
the Lord's hand double for aU their sins.f They
describe in detail the wonderful dispensation
of the Gospel: the incarnation of the Son of
God; the privations which he endured during
c Psalm ciii. 1 3. d Job ix. 30 — 33.
c Rom. v. 20. ! Isaiah xl. 2.

The Scriptures engage the Affections. 175
his life ; his sufferings, his death ; his resurrec
tion ; his ascension ; his assumption of his
mediatorial kingdom ; his intercession in heaven
for his faithful followers upon earth.
It is to be lamented that frequency of
repetition should diminish the effect, which
the contemplation of events like these might
reasonably be expected to produce. When we
consider that aU this is no fictitious tale, devised
in order to excite our feelings, but the sober
narrative of what was actuaUy performed for
us men and for our salvation — that these were
the means, by which we were redeemed from
the curse — that what Christ suffered was all
endured for our sakes — that if he was wounded,
it was for our transgressions — if bruised, it was
for our iniquities — that " the chastisement of
our peace was upon him : and with his stripes
we are healed"8 — that " God commended his
love to us, in that, whUe we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us"h — that " in this was mani
fested the love of God toward us, because that
God sent his only begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through him" — that, " herein
is love : not that we loved God, but that he
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins"1 — we should surely love God,
g Isaiah Iiii. 5. h Rom. v. 8.
1 1 John iv. 9, 10.

176 Lecture VIIL
because he first loved us; we should acknow
ledge that such inestimable blessings caU for
feelings of thankfulness, which no other cause
can ever claim.
The study, then, of the sacred writings
affords the highest pleasure to every rational
mind. It satisfies the understanding : it delights
the imagination: it engages the affections. It
speaks of subjects of vital interest to every soul
of man ; by which every one is required to
regulate his life, and by which he wiU be judged
at the great day. Yet, even among those who
conceive themselves most capable of judging,
there have been found some who would represent
the study of the Scriptures as repulsive. And
many, it is to be feared, among the young,
are deterred by prejudices of this nature, from
searching the book of life. They do read
the Bible occasionaUy ; but it is with a careless
ness, which prevents them, as weU from relishing
the beauties, as from imbibing the spirit of
the sacred volume.
You are perhaps well read in the pages
of ancient and modern literature : you would
account it grievous ignorance not to know,
and great want of taste not to appreciate, the
charms of eloquence and sentiment so profusely
scattered over them. But there is a book more
eloquent, more sublime, more tender, more de-

The Conclusion. 177
Scriptive than all which you admire, which yet
you suffer to lie from day to day unopened,
or read only with inattention and indifference.
I speak not now of the pleasures attending the
practice of refigion, I speak only of those which
accompany its study, These are pleasures pure,
and rational; able to satisfy the soul of man,
and adequate to its utmost capacity ; pleasures
which alone might induce men to exercise them
selves in God's law day and night.
But far be it from any one to urge the
study of the Bible only because it possesses
unrivaUed interest, and charms of diction. We
stand upon higher ground. We search the Scrip
tures, because in them we think we have the
words of eternal life. But, in so searching them,
we receive the purest pleasure, as weU as the
most lasting advantage. We press forward with
ardour for the prize of the high caUing of God
in Christ Jesus :k and, by the goodness of our
heavenly guide, every step, which we tread,
leads us continuaUy on through the ways of
pleasantness and peace.
k Phil. iii. 14.

M

LECTURE IX.
THE WARNINGS AND PROMISES OF THE
SCRIPTURES.

Psalm XIX. 11.
Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and
in keeping of them there is great reward.
The Psalmist, having before dwelt upon
the benefits which revealed religion affords,
and shewn that it is an object of pursuit more
desirable, and more agreeable, than any worldly
advantages, here declares two more peculiarities,
by which it is characterized;
That it warns and teaches mankind:
That it promises, and wiU give, an exceeding
great reward to those who keep it.
The two great instruments, by which all
laws have been enforced, are the fear of punish
ment, and the hope of reward. But, in every
human code of legislation, both these instru
ments are very imperfect in their operation.
The fear of punishment has always proved

Warnings and Promises of the Scriptures. 179
too weak for the hope of eventual impunity.
And the expectation of reward has failed in
its effect, from the actual impossibility that the
legislator should appreciate merit, and his in-
abUity to requite it, even when discovered.
But the punishments and rewards, with which
refigion is conversant, are subject to no such
imperfection. The warnings are the most em
phatic; because they proceed from a Being,
who knows the origin and end of the most
obscure event. The threatenings are most
awful; because they are uttered by a Being,
whose power knows no limits, either of ex
tension or duration: by one, whose words are
truth itself: by one, who will most assuredly
perform what he declares. Similarly, the
rewards, which are promised, are most sure.
However secret an action may be, it is exposed
to the eye of our Almighty Father: however
complicated in its causes and consequences, He
can distinguish the motives by which it was
produced, and the events to which it gives
rise. And although our very best actions can
deserve no reward at his hands, yet we are
assured, that they who through faith endeavour
to lay hold of eternal life, shall, by the free
grace and mercy of God, through the atone
ment of his Son, receive an exceeding great
recompence.
m 2

180 Lecture IX.
I. David declares, with reference to the
precepts and doctrines of revealed religion,
" By them is thy servant warned," or, as the
same term signifies in other parts of Scripture,
" by them is thy servant enlightened." His
assertion may be considered, therefore, to refer
to the historical warnings, which the Scriptures
deliver to mankind; to the fuU assurance of
future judgment ; and to the promised influence
of God's Holy Spirit.
1. The warnings, which any history de
livers, are always impressive, because they ex
hibit the natural course of events, similar to
those in which we are aU engaged. They dis
play the origin, and progress, and consequences
of transactions, modified by all the variety of
circumstances to which they are subject. But
the warnings of sacred history are peculiarly
striking ; since they shew the causes as well
as the effects. They lay open frequently the
very dealings of God with man : the internal
dispensations, by which his counsels are di
rected. If we open the word of God, we are pre
sented with a series of historical warnings,
which speak most forcibly the abhorrence in
which aU sin is held in the sight of God : and
especially those sins which are directed against
himself. The offences which are punished are

Historical Warnings. 181
those of nations, and of individuals: and the
punishment corresponds with the crime.
National offences are visited by national
judgments. Scarcely was the earth peopled,
after the faU of our first parents, when it was
" corrupt before God, and the earth was filled
with violence." AU flesh turned from the
worship of the Lord: the wickedness of man
became great, and the imagination of the
thoughts of his < heart was only evil con
tinuaUy.3 But the same narrative, which re
cords the guUtiness of the world, relates also*
the judgment which came upon it. The Spirit
of God would not always strive with man.
WhUe men were still in the midst of their
wickedness, heedless of their danger, God sent
a flood of waters upon the earth, and destroyed
both man and beast, and the creeping things,
and the fowls of the air. The patriarchal age
is replete with warnings of a similar nature.
The confusion of tongues, the destruction of
the cities of the plain, offer subjects of very
serious contemplation. When, again, we pro
ceed to the history of the people, who were
selected for God's peculiar care, we read scarcely
any thing but a continued succession of warn
ings and punishments : warnings which, al
though they failed to effect their immediate
* Gen. vi. 5, 11.

182 Lecture IX.
purpose of turning the Israelites from their
errors, we should do well to lay to heart.
When first they were delivered from Egyptian
bondage, they wandered in the desert, and
suffered from hunger, and thirst, and fatigue.
When at length they were established in the
land of promise, they were frequently subdued
by the people around them, who were em
phatically styled "scourges in their sides, and
thorns in their eyes."b As they advanced in
experience, they made few advances in obe
dience, and consequently few in national pro
sperity. They became a divided people: one
part was carried away captive, never to return ;
the remaining part was afterwards led away
to Babylon, and, for seventy years, endured
aU the afflictions which a state of slavery en
tails. When their temple, and worship, and
nation were restored, their sins were renewed;
and so was their punishment. The Lord of
life appeared among them; and him they
crucified and slew : and soon after, the measure
of their national iniquities being at length ful
filled, their city was finaUy destroyed, and the
remnant of them dispersed abroad among aU
people of the earth, a living warning of the
fearful nature of disobedience to the commands
of an omnipotent God.
6 Josh, xxiii. 13.

Historical Warnings. 183
The word of God besides warns us by the
history of individuals.
From the first disobedience of Adam, by
whose transgression sin entered into the world
and death by sin, we learn the grievous curse
which is entaUed upon our nature; the bitter
fruits of the forbidden tree. From the murder
of Abel, we learn the depravity of faUen man ;
how soon, how fataUy the image of God, in which
man was created, was defaced and obliterated.
By various passages in the history of the patri
archs, we may receive the most forcible lessons
of piety, the most awful warnings against sin.
From the judgments which were inflicted upon
Pharaoh, we see how fearful a thing it is to faU
into the hands of the living God. From the
failings of Aaron, and even of Moses, how im
perfect are all the services of the most upright
men. From the melancholy faUing away of
Saul, how soon, aU men sink into destruction,
when they forsake the ordinances of God, and
neglect the means of his grace. From the sins
and punishment of David, the deceitfulness of
our own hearts, and the certainty that our sin
wiU find us out. From the death of that pro
phet of God, who, though he prophesied against
the altar at Bethel, yet disobeyed the command
of the Lord and was slain by a lion in the way,"
c 1 Kings xiii.

184 Lecture IX.
that even those who are commissioned to pro,
claim the way of the Lord, may yet most
fearfuUy fall. From the destruction of Sen
nacherib's army/ how mightUy the hand of
God is sometimes stretched out to save his
people : from the judgment of Nebuchadnezzar/
how dreadful is his anger; from the death of
Herod/ how certainly vengeance sometimes
overtakes the wicked even in the present life.
These and numerous other instances, which
might easily be collected from the sacred vo
lume, are written for our instruction. They
are histories, by which, in an especial degree
we are warned.
2. Still more striking is the warning infor
mation which we receive from the assurance of
future judgment. As in aU ages some men have
neglected, so some men wiU always neglect, the
example offered to them by the punishment of
others ; and discover or invent some paUiating
circumstances in their own case. But if they
once feel convinced that immediate punishment
is hanging over their own heads, they may then
be induced to turn from their errors, with real
contrition, and practical amendment.
It would be difficult to find an instance, in
which a whole nation was reformed by the con->
d 2 Kings xiii. 35. Isaiah xxxvii. 36. ' Dan. iv.
' Acts xii. 23,

Assurance of Future Judgment. 185
sideration of those historical warnings, which are
held out for their instruction; not from any
deficiency in the instruction itself, but from the
want of observation in themselves : because they
wiU not lay it to heart. But if, among the most
profligate people upon earth, a prophet should
appear, as Jonah appeared to the Ninevites,
armed with a commission of speedy vengeance,
if they did not repent, they, who heard and
believed the threat, would have no alternative
but immediate repentance. " Yet forty days
and Nineveh shall be overthrown," was a decla
ration which clothed that corrupt city in sack
cloth, and brought down even the king from his
throne to sit in ashes.6
Now thus particular is the warning which
the Scriptures hold out in those solemn assur
ances of future judgment, which it was one of
the main objects of revealed religion to deliver.
By this voice of revelation we are indeed warned.
The circumstances of this awful event are the
subject of many of the most striking declara
tions, which the Scriptures contain. These may
be familiar to our ears. But it is at our peril if
we therefore suffer them to affect our minds but
lightly. They are warnings conceived in words
like these ; " when the Son of Man shall come
in his glory, and aU the holy angels with him,
s Jonah iii. 5.

186 Lecture IX.
then shaU he sit upon the throne of his glory :
and before him shaU be gathered aU nations;
and he shall separate them one from another, as
a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."11
Again, " the Lord himself shaU descend from
heaven with a shout; with the voice, of the
archangel, and with the trump of God."1 From
this judgment no man can escape. "For we
must all appear before the judgment-seat of
Christ, that every one may receive the things
done in the body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad."k And this decision
is final. The wicked " shaU go away into ever
lasting punishment : but the righteous into life
eternal."1 I shaU instance but one passage more, and
that because, expressed in the boldest language
of prophecy, it represents, as actuaUy present,
what every one who breathes the breath of life
wUl one day see realized. Wrapped into futu
rity St. John declares, " I saw the dead, smaU
and great, stand before God : and the books were
opened : and another book was opened which is
the book of life : and the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the
books, according to their works. And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it ; and death
h Matth. xxv. 31, 32. ' 1 Thess. iv. 16.
k 2 Cor. v. 20. ' Matth. xxv. 46.

Promise of the Holy Spirit. 187
and heU delivered up the dead which were in
them : and they were judged every man accord
ing to their works."1" , Such is the language of
the Spirit of God, which sees things future as if
already present. And surely it is language cal
culated to warn the most indifferent. Men may
neglect to read, or understand, or apply the
warnings which the Scripture history affords;
but when we read what wiU most assuredly
happen to every one of us, a doom by which
our happiness or misery for ever will be fixed,
we must surely join in the Apostle's conclusion,
Seeing then that aU these things shaU be dis
solved, what maimer of persons ought we to be
in aU holy conversation and godliness : looking
for and hastening unto the coming of the day of
God." 3. But the Scriptures not only warn by
their histories, and by their positive assurance
of future judgment, they also promise the assist
ance of God's Holy Spirit to enlighten his
faithful servants : and to enable them to lay
these warnings to heart.
This Ulumination varies with the designs
which it pleases the Almighty to effect, in
different ages, and by different persons. There
are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.
m Rev. xx. 12, 13. " 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12.

188 Lecture IX.
David and other holy men of old were en
lightened to declare the wiU of God in their
inspired writings. At other periods, the Spirit
of God was poured out upon all flesh: the
young men saw visions, and the old men
dreamed dreams, under its holy influence.
Sometimes, as on this day/ the Holy Spirit
descended in a visible form; and was mani
fested by its preternatural effects. The first
Christians were by it enabled to speak with
other tongues, which they had never learned;
to work miracles; to heal all manner of sick
ness and disease ; to control the elements of
the universe. When they were taken before
kings and rulers, the Spirit gave them utter
ance : and their unpremeditated eloquence had
a force, which all their adversaries were unable
to gainsay or resist. It opened also to their
minds the prospect of futurity. They were
enabled to foresee events long hidden in the
obscurity of ages yet to come : to discern what
should come to pass in the last days. Since
the necessity for these extraordinary gifts of
the Holy Spirit ceased, we are taught that it
stiU .enlightens the hearts of the faithful ser
vants of God.
That man is sinful, and therefore exposed
to the wrath of God, is a truth suggested by
° This Lecture was delivered on Whit-Sunday.

Promise of the Holy Spirit. 189
undeviating experience; repeatedly confirmed
by the authority of Scripture. That some
change, therefore, must take place in the nature
of man, before he is qualified for that state of
blessedness, to which he aspires, is a necessary
consequence, and is also confirmed by Scripture.
But reason teUs us not how that change is to
be effected. Bepentance for past sin, and a
real amendment of fife, might reform the sinner
for the future; remorse might embitter his re
membrance of the past: and terror might
restrain him from incurring fresh guilt. But
no repentance, no remorse, no terror could ever,
by its own efficacy, absolve for past guilt ; and
experience wiU soon shew that even to repent
and amend thoroughly is a work, which sur
passes the unassisted powers of man. Some
thing more, therefore, than mere natural means
are requisite : and that assistance the Holy
Spirit of God affords.
The words of Scripture upon this important
point are most express. Christ declares " Ex
cept a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot see the kingdom of God."p Again,
" No man can come unto me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him." q So St. Paul
affirms distinctly, " if any man have not the
Spirit of God, he is none of his." r The whole
p John iii. 5. q John vi. 44. r Rom. viii. g.

190 Lecture IX.
tenor, indeed, of St. Paul's epistles implies, that
some change, which is greater than man can
effect for himself, is necessary for his salvation.
This change is represented under the strong
terms of being made clean/ pure/ holy/ free
from sin;* of being created anew:7 of having
a new heart:2 of being born again;" of being
born of God;b of being born of the Spirit:0
of being made alive from the dead;d of being
saved by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost.6 A contrast is
studiously made between the natural state of
man, that in which he would be without any
assistance from above, and the spiritual state;
that in which he is placed by the influence of
the Spirit of God/ The natural state is caUed
the flesh, the other the Spirit.*5 Thus St. Paul
declares " to be carnaUy minded is death : but
to be spirituaUy minded is life and peace."11
And the works of the flesh, which those who
do shall not inherit the kingdom of God, are
expressly opposed to the fruits of the Spirit,
s Psalm li. 10. James iv. 8. 1 John i. 7, 9.
' 1 John iii. 3. » Col. I. 22. * Rom. vi. 18.
y Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. 2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. vi. 15.
2 Ezek. xviii. 31. a 1 Pet. i. 23.
» John i. 13. 1 John iii. 9. iv. 7. c John iii. 5, 6, 8.
d Rom. vi. 13. <= Tit. iii. 5.
f 1 Cor. ii. 14. s Gal. v. 17. Rom. viii. 9.
h Rom. viii. 6.

Present Rewards of Religion. 191
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, good
ness, faith, meekness, temperance.1 And, while
the benefits, derived from spiritual assistance,
are so clearly displayed, we are encouraged to
hope for its sanctifying influence by an express
assurance of our Lord : " if ye, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your chUd
ren, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
him?"k Thus have we seen how revealed religion
addresses itself to the fears of mankind, by
its warnings of history, and by its assurance
of judgment: and what assistance it affords
to enable man to direct his conduct according
to his conviction.
II. But religion further addresses itself to
our hopes ; by holding out the most glorious
promises to those who foUow it. Not only
by the judgments of God are his servants
warned ; but in keeping of them there is great
reward. 1. It is not to be expected, and perhaps
it is not to be desired, that in a state of pro
bation, such as the present life is, apparent
happiness should be distributed in proportion
to apparent merit. I say apparent happiness,
because it is weU known how often, in the
1 Gal. v. 22. k Luke xi. 13.

192 Lecture IX.
midst of what seems pleasure, there is found
many a sorrowing heart; and under circum
stances of the greatest distress, how the spirit
of a man may be sustained. StiU it is un
doubtedly true, and it is enough for our pre
sent purpose, that the general tendency of
religious habits is to increase happiness.
The first particular, in which we may in
stance this effect, is in bodily health. Habits
of sobriety, of temperance, of regularity, the
absence of those violent passions, which wear
out the animal frame, and of those too great
anxieties about worldly cares, which prey upon
the mind, all these have a direct tendency to
produce and continue that most inestimable of
earthly blessings, good health. The disorders,
to which we are subject, from causes over
which we have no control, are few in number,
compared with those which indolence, luxury,
intemperance, and excess of every kind, have
introduced. In as far, then, as practical re
ligion is opposed to aU these evil habits, so
far is it immediately conducive to health.
A second benefit, analogous to this, is the
internal peace of mind, which is the reward
of a life well spent. As there is no torture
so great as that of an accusing conscience, so
is there no satisfaction so perfect as that of
a conscience void of offence. The holy joy

Present Rewards of Religion. 193
which results from this source, is a gratification
of no ordinary kind. It is that religious joy,
which has been eloquently characterized as
"a masculine and a severe thing: the recre*-
ation of the judgment, the jubilee of reason,
the result of a real good suitably applied ; com*
mencing upon the solidities of truth, and the
Substance of fruition: not perhaps displaying
itself in voice, but filling the soul, as the pre
sence of God pervades the universe, silently
and without noise ; refreshing but composed ',
like the pleasantness of youth tempered with
the gravity of age; or the mirth of a festival
managed with the sUence of contemplation."1
Another reward, usuaUy attached to a sincere
profession of refigion, is the esteem of those
whose favour is most valuable. The world is
not so depraved, but that many can be found,
who honour true piety wherever it is seen.
Many are the knees, which have not bowed
unto Baal. And the approbation of one of
these should, in the estimation of a reasonable
man, outweigh the scoffs of many a thoughtless
tongue. 2. But far be it from any one to represent
the rewards, which this perishable world offers,
as the only rewards, which God in his infinite
1 See South's Sermon on Gen. i. 27- Vol L p. 22. folio
edition.' N

194 Lecture IX.
mercy has in store for those who truly serve
him. These rewards are fading and uncertain
as the world itself. They may perhaps be felt
but in a small degree, or for a short time, or
be totally withheld. StiU, even if these bless
ings are removed, refigion can convert our
very trials to our good. Sickness and pain
wiU, at some period, be the portion of every
man. But if religion wiU not avert sickness,
it wiU teach us to employ it aright; it mil
bring us to acknowledge with David, " It is
good for me that I have been afflicted."1"
Conscience wiU not always speak peace.
There is none on earth who liveth and sinneth
not. The mind will sometimes write bitter
things against every man, and make him to
possess the iniquities of his youth." But this
godly sorrow wiU, by the grace of God, work
repentance unto fife not to be repented of: it
wiU lead us to seek for mercy, not for our own
merits, but through the mediation of our Sa
viour, by which alone we can be accepted of God.
The obloquy of the world may be directed
even against our best intentioned actions: hut
if, in consequence of our reUgion, in the world
we do have tribulation, refigion wiU stiU cheer
and support us, for it wiU enable us to over
come the world.
m Psalm cxix. 71. n Job xiii. 26.

Future Rewards of Religion. 195
3. But the exceeding great reward, which
is reserved for those who through faith inherit
the promises, is to be looked for after this
world, and att that it contains, shall have passed
away. It is a reward which no man can
conceive, much less describe. We know not
even, with certainty, wherein it shaU consist.
But it is represented in the most exalted terms
which language can express ; stiU accompanied
with the assurance that it is inexpressible. The
reality, we are certain, will not be inferior to
the imperfect figures under which it is re
presented. It is described as the fulness of
joy in the presence of God, and pleasures for
evermore at his right hand:0 as a state, in
which God shaU wipe away aU tears from aU
eye&, and there shaU be no more death, neither
sorrow nor crying, neither shaU there be any
more pain.p And when we have strained our
faculties, to obtain some faint conception of
the fuU meaning of these and simUar expres
sions, we are at once humbled and consoled
with the assurance, " Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man the things which God hath prepared
for those that love him."q
° Psalm xvi. 11. p Rev. xxi. 4.
i 1 Cor. ii. 9.
N 2

196 Lecture IX.
Such then being the warnings, which we
receive from the Scriptures, and such the
rewards promised to our obedience, let us
beware that we refuse not him that speaketh.
For the regulation of our lives is the punish-,
ment declared, and the recompence proposed:
and it now rests with ourselves, while our
day of grace remains, to work out our salva
tion with fear and trembling, assured that. God
wiU by his Spirit work in us effectuaUy both
to wiU and to do, if we neglect not the means,
which his grace affords.
Although our future happiness is made to
depend upon something more than we can do
for ourselves, it is most requisite that we use
all caution not to deceive ourselves upon a point
so important; not to desist from our efforts,
as if nothing were to be done by us: not to
relax our exertions as if we were already perfect.
In the ordinary state of a Christian's fife, he
must not expect any sudden, sensible indica
tions of the operations of the Holy Spirit.
It acts sUently, secretly, invisibly, though
effectuaUy. There are means of grace by which
it may be expected to be conveyed, such, for
instance, as constant prayer, and the faithful
use of the Sacraments ordained by Christ himself.
If we use means like these worthily ; the grace
of God will not be withheld. But, like all

The Conclusion. 197
other hidden powers, the power of the Spirit
upon the soul of man must be estimated by
its effect. By its fruits it is known. And the
fruits of the Spirit are manifest, which are
these.' "Love;" the love of God and man:
a desire to promote the general happiness of
those around us : " Joy," a quiet, unobtrusive,
cheerful disposition, not too much elated with
the good things of this fife: not unduly de
pressed with their loss. "Peace;" that peace,
inwardly and deeply seated, which the world
can neither give nor take away : " Long-suffer
ing;" a temper not easUy provoked to anger;
ready to forgive others, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven us ; " gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance ; against such there
is no law:" they are the genuine proofs, where
they are found, that the Scriptures of God
have been effectuaUy addressed to the fears
and to the hopes of man : that the Holy Spirit
has warned and enlightened his mind; and
stiU actuates, guides and sanctifies : and they
afford a reasonable expectation, that he will
in the end receive the exceeding great reward
which is promised to the faithful.
r Gal. v. 22.

PART III.
LECTURE X.
secret faults.

Psalm XIX. 12.
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou
me from secret faults.
When we compare the purity and perfec
tion of the rule of fife laid down in Scripture,
with the imperfect obedience, which every
one must be conscious he has paid, one of the
most obvious reflexions which we are led to
make is, that there must be many secret faults
lurking within us, which the eye of God can
discover, although the eye of man cannot.
When we further consider, that man is a respon
sible agent, responsible for his obedience to the
divine law ; which he can hope to render only
by means of the grace of God preventing and

Secret Faults. 199
assisting him — that, after aU the care which he
may bestow to improve the means of salvation,
he must stiU remain a humble suppliant for
pardon — one of the most earnest prayers, which
we shaU be induced to prefer, must be a petition
for that inestimable grace and mercy, to enable
us to understand our errors, and to cleanse us
from secret faults.
TThis is the train of thought, which the
mind of David pursues in the nineteenth Psalm.
The contemplation of the wonderful works of
nature elevates his thoughts to nature's God,
The consideration of the wonderful revelation
of God's word leads him to expatiate, as we
have seen, upon its perfection, its certainty,
its equity, its purity, its integrity, its truth ;
He acknowledges that the statutes and judg
ments of the Lord are more to be desired
than gold : sweeter than honey : that by them
mankind is warned : and that in keeping of
them there is great reward. Yet, after aU these
assertions, which express feelings of great thank
fulness for the benefit of Divine revelation,
he experiences that sinking of the heart, pro
duced by comparing precept with practice ; the
commands of God, with the obedience of man :
and he adds, in the words of humility and
piety, " who can understand his errors ? cleanse
thou me from secret faults."

200 Lecture X.
Human nature is not grown less liable to
err, since the days of David : and his complaint
must always find a responsive feeling in every
heart, that soberly reflects upon its eternal
interest. Conscious, then, that it is an enquiry
which deeply concerns us aU, whether high,
or low; rich, or poor; learned, or unlearned;
let us proceed to reflect, with all seriousness,
upon the important doctrine, that we have
all secret faults. Let us consider how we may
discover some of them ; and the remedy, which
the merciful dispensation of the Gospel has
provided against their influence.
I. 1. The first method, by which we may
obtain a knowledge that we have secret faults,
is to compare the nature of God with the
nature of fallen man. ?
The conceptions of God, which the Scrip
tures give us, are those of purity itself. " Be
hold, even to the moon, and it shineth not ; yea
the stars are not pure in his sight ; how much
less man that is a worm, and the Son of man
which is a worm."" " He is of purer eyes
than to behold evil."" Yet the Almighty so
pure, so holy, is the Being before whom we
stand, and by whom our conduct is to be
weighed. "His eyes behold, his eyelids try
the children of men."0
* Job xxv. 5. b Hab. i. 13. c Psalm xi. 4.

Secret Faults. 201
Now it needs no laboured argument to
prove, that before the eye of a pure, perfect,
aU-seeing God, aU men must shrink with a
consciousness of deep infirmity. We have not
now to learn how sin first entered into the
world ; nor need we to be reminded how deadly
a change has passed upon our nature. If we
refer to the Scriptures, we learn that in us,
that is, in our flesh, dweUeth no good thing/
David wUl declare, respecting mankind in
general, "there is none that doeth good, no
not one:"6 and St. Paul, that "death passed upon
aU men, for that aU have sinned."f If we refer
to experience, we shaU receive the same instruc
tion. We shaU perceive the laws of aU nations
continuaUy, but ineffectually, endeavouring to
restrain the propensity to sin. We shall dis
cover all forms of religious worship to have
a reference, more or less direct, to the offering
of some expiatory sacrifice, to take away guilt.
We shaU observe superstition urging mankind
to the most irksome labours, in order to appease
the Divine wrath, which they were so conscious
they merited. Tedious pilgrimages, frequent
ablutions, voluntary exposure to hunger, and
thirst, and cold, and nakedness, and weariness ;
bodUy tortures of the most excruciating kind,
* Rom. vii. IS. e Psalm xiv. 3. Rom. iii. 10.
f Rom. v. 12.

202 Lecture X,
aU bear witness to the existence of moral guilt.
The testimony of individuals leads to the same
result. The very best of mankind readily
confess and lament their own sins: and those
who have been blessed with the immediate
inspiration of the Spirit of God express them
selves in terms of the greatest humiliation.
St. Paul declares himself to be encompassed
with a body of death from which he struggles
with ineffectual efforts to be delivered.8 The
patriarchs, and prophets, the apostles, and foUow-
ers of Christ, aU utter the same complaints.
The personal experience of aU men is equaUy
decisive. All have, at some times, serious
apprehensions concerning their future state;
some hidden consciousness that their whole
duty is not performed as it ought to be.
Conscience wiU sometimes hold up its faithful
mirror before the mental eye, and discover
numerous imperfections and vices. And every
man, even when he attempts to do what he
knows to be his duty, often finds a law in
his members warring against the law of his
mind, and bringing him into captivity. The
good he would he does not, the evil he would
not that he does.
Now if this contrast between the purity
of God, who requires our obedience, and the
» Rom. vii. 24. i

Secret Faults. 203
imperfection of our nature, even in our own
sight, be thus striking, the conclusion is irre
sistible, that, where we see much that is done
amiss, God must see more: that if there are
many offences which we can understand, there
must be many more which to us are secret,
and from which we may reasonably pray to be
cleansed. 2. If, however, there be many faults which
are necessarily hidden from our view, by the
weakness of our minds, there are others which
remain concealed by our own wilful neglect.
Every one is proverbiaUy blind to his own
errors. They escape his notice, not because he
would not acknowledge them to be culpable in
others, but because he either contrives to avoid
seeing them at aU, or disguises them to his own
conscience under specious names. If avarice be
his vice, he styles it prudence ; if prodigality, he
considers it the overflowing of a liberal heart.
Anger and revenge are gratified under the plea
of a spirited vindication of his rights : licentious
ness is denominated a venial error of youth;
obstinacy, firmness ; and arrogance, proper pride.
As long as the faults of a man are thus hidden
from him, they are secret faults : but they are
faults which he may and ought to know, and to
amend : and every one who has learned that " the
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately

204 Lecture X.
wicked,"11 would do weU to pray that it may be
cleansed from them.
3. There is stiU another mode, in which we
may have secret faults ; and a mode even more
dangerous than the preceding; because it pro
ceeds from a hardihood in continued sin. It is
by no means uncommon for a man to advance so
far in a guUty course, that he ceases to reflect at
aU upon his actions. On first entering upon a
vicious life, remorse and hesitation are usuaUy
felt. The mind unused to gross violations of
duty proceeds with timorousness : and the sinner
stiU flatters himself with the delusive hope of
returning, at no distant period, into the path of
duty, which he has deserted. Soon, however,
one guilty compliance succeeds to another : that
unchecked produces still more; untU the pro
gress of corruption is complete : the whole head
is sick, and the whole heart faint. Conscience,
long heard in vain ceases to utter her warning
voice ; and the calm of insensibUity is mistaken
for the tranquUUty of a self approving mind.
As long as the sinner continues in this me
lancholy state, all his sins to him are secret faults.
Clear as the noon-day to the rest of the world,
open in all their deformity before the eye of
God, they still escape his own observation.
h Jer. xvii. 9.

Secret Faults. 205
From such a degree of mental blindness it is
surely above aU things desirable to be delivered :
and knowing that these things are sometimes
so, we must join in the prayer of David, " who
can understand his errors ? cleanse thou me from
secret faults."
II. Having thus seen some of the causes
which render many of our faults secret, and the
danger with which they are especiaUy invested,
as long as they are concealed, let us turn our
attention to some of the means, by which we
may, with the divine blessing, be enabled to
discover them.
1. The first method is by sincere self exa
mination, according to the rule of life laid down
in the Scriptures. As long as men measure
themselves by themselves, arid compare them
selves among themselves/ they wiU make no
progress in true wisdom. Self love wiU always
tend to withdraw our attention from those parts
of our conduct, which are reprehensible; and
entertain us with the more pleasing prospect of
our imagined virtues. And in making a com
parison, between the relative merits of ourselves
and others, we are still more liable to be deceived.
That man must be bad indeed, who cannot dis
cover something in his own character, which his
'' 2 Cor. x. 12.

206 Lecture X.
partiality may convert into a mark of superiority
over his neighbour. " God, I thank thee that
I am not as other men are,"k is an address,
conceived in the heart, if not uttered by the
lips, of many, who have made even less progress
in a religious life than the Pharisee in the
parable. But let a man once peruse his Bible
with an earnest desire to profit by its instruc
tions; let him study its history, with a fuU
determination to take counsel by its warnings ;
let him reflect upon its holy precepts, and its
pure doctrines ; let him compare together aU the
evidences of its truth; let him contemplate
the noble, but awful views, which it discloses,
concerning the dealings of God, and the weak
ness of faUen man ; let him ponder its declara
tions concerning the deceitfulness, and universal
extent of sin ; and the astonishing means which
have been devised for our redemption : let him
regard mankind in their present state of pro
bation, and in their future state of ultimate re
tribution: and then let him apply aU these
particulars individuaUy to his own case: let
him examine, step by step, the degree of his
proficiency in aU his relative duties; the in
fluence which his faith exercises upon his life ;
and he will have found an unerring standard,
k Luke xviii. 11.

Secret Faults. 207
by which he may not only be made to under
stand his errors, but be cleansed from many of
his secret faults.
The exercise of self examination must always,
at the first, be deeply humiliating. Let a man's
life be, in his own estimation, as spotless as it
may, a close investigation wUl not fail to dis
cover numerous offences against the declared
wiU of God, which before lay concealed from
view. It wiU often expose sins of a still deeper
die. It wUl perhaps disclose some vice seated
in the inmost recesses of the heart, some easUy
besetting sin, which the offender would rather
paUiate, than oppose. Secret sins of this nature
are dangerous indeed. And we have aU great
need to pray, with aU the earnestness which
our salvation demands, that the grace of God
may be sent down to inspire and bless our
imperfect efforts; to enable us to understand
our errors, and to overcome them; to create
in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit
within us.
2. Another method, by which some of our
secret faults may be made known to us, is by
attending to the sincere advice of our real
friends. There is no effort of friendship so
truly valuable as that which discloses to us
errors, which our own partiality would hide
from our notice : and unhappUy there is none,

208 Lecture X.
which our pride receives with so much aversion.
The pride, however, which is thus exerted, is
that which goeth before destruction. And a
man who is truly desirous to understand his
errors, will receive intimations of this nature
even with gratitude : if iU-founded, that he may
avoid the fault submitted to his notice ; if well
founded, that he may repent and amend. Even
the false accusations of calumny may sometimes
be made conducive to the same good purpose.
He who says much which is false, may say
something which is true. The keen eye of an
enemy may detect a flaw, which the partial
glance of friendship might (Overlook, or our own
blindness hide. '
Still, after aU the care which our vigilance
can bestow, we cannot understand our errors.
Much of imperfection, much of error, much of
infirmity, many an unnoticed act, and word
and thought witt exist ; many faults, which how
ever venial in the sight of man, are nevertheless
offensive to a God of perfect purity.
III. It remains, then, that we briefly con
sider the remedy, which, by the merciful dis
pensations of our Almighty Father, is provided
against the natural consequences of this guilt.
The means, by which we may hope to be
cleansed from our secret faults, are intimated
in the prayer of David. " Cleanse thou me

Secret Faults. 209
from secret faults." That which is impossible
with man is possible with God. Although man
cannot understand his own errors, the Almighty
possesses both the power and the will to cleanse
the sinner from his secret faults.
Upon a subject of this nature, revelation is
the only sure source, whence we can obtain
any satisfactory information. Beason might
shew us, how agreeable to our notions of the
Deity is the attribute of mercy ; and might
raise some faint hopes that he, who, in the
material world, has given us aU things richly
to enjoy, would not, in his moral government,
be extreme to mark what is done amiss. But
then would recur the remembrance of the
Divine justice, of that purity and holiness,
which is so opposed to all sin : and the least
alarming conclusion, at which man could arrive,
would be a timid hope, that his secret sins
might not be visited upon him in judgment.
But Bevelation leaves us not comfortless. It
informs us that God, out of his infinite mercy,
has provided for fatten and sinful man a remedy,
which by his unassisted powers he could neither
have discovered nor attained. It enables us to
pray, with confidence that the prayer of faith
will be heard and answered, that we may be
cleansed from our secret faults.
The ultimate cause, to which we are in-
0

210 Lecture X.
debted for this inestimable benefit, is the
mercy of God, who has revealed to us the
means, through which it has pleased him to
exercise his grace. The more immediate cause
is that sacrifice, which has been made upon
the cross by Jesus Christ, who " once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God."1 The whole of the reve^
lation, which has been successively made to
the world, displays with different degrees of
clearness, this one great event. For this cause
it was that, as soon as the first parents of the
human race had sinned, and by sin brought
death into the world, the merciful promise was
made of that seed of the woman which should
bruise the serpent's head. For this cause it
was, that the same promise was continued from
age to age in an unbroken chain of prophecies
and types: that the written word of God was
preserved, a living witness and register of all
the events, which his Providence had brought
about, for the advancement of his wonderful
determination. For this cause it was, that the
Son of God himself came into the world, pre
ceded by his messenger who should make
straight his path before him : grew up in wis
dom and in stature, in subjection to his earthly
parents; went about doing good; speaking as
1 1 Pet. iii. 18.

Secret Faults. 211
never man spake ; and doing works such as
never man did: that he submitted himself to
the wiU of his cruel enemies, and gave up his
Ufe for the sins of aU mankind. For this cause
it was that he rose from the dead, and ascended
up to his Father and our Father, to his God
and our God; and there for ever liveth to
make intercession for us.
Here, then, is the remedy for aU our secret
faults ; the wonderful satisfaction, which has
been made by infinite mercy, to propitiate in
finite justice. Those, who come unto God in
the name, and through the mediation, of Christ,
he wiU in no wise cast out. " This is a faith
ful saying, and worthy of aU acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin
ners.'"11 As a God of purity and justice, the
Almighty has set our misdeeds before him, and
our secret sins in the light of his countenance."
As a God of mercy, he "hath reconcUed us
to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconcUiation : to wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them."0
All that it is in the power of man to do, we
are commanded to do, as a proof of the sin
cerity of our obedience: for the grace of God
m 1 Tim. i. 15. " Psalm xc. 8. ° 2 Cor. v. 18.
O 2

212 Lecture X.
is not promised except to those who sincerely
strive to work out their own salvation. But
when aU our own efforts would avail us nothing,
we are taught to look with faith to that sacri
fice, which has been offered for us ; to him who
was made sin for us, although himself without
sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him.p Seeing then that these things
are so, with what care should we watch the
most secret motions of our hearts; with what
diligence should we use the means appointed
for our salvation ; and with what earnestness
should we join in the pious prayer of David,
" Who can understand his errors ? cleanse thou
me from secret faults."
» 2 Cor. v. 21.

LECTURE XI.

PRESUMPTUOUS sins.

Psalm XIX. 13.
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins ;
let them not have dominion over me : then shall
I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the
great transgression.
Although aU sin is in itself hateful to God,
yet reason and revelation agree in representing
it as susceptible of different degrees. There
may be sins of ignorance, and other secret faults,
from which, as we have lately seen, David
prays to be delivered: or there may be sins
of surprise, such as sudden temptation pro
duces, foUowed by immediate humiliation and
repentance. With what degree of mercy it
may please our Almighty Father to visit these
errors of human infirmity, how extreme he
may be in marking all that is done amiss,
must remain to be shewn at the great day

214 Lecture XI.
of account. And we have aU reason to pray,
that we may obtain an individual interest in
that holy dispensation, by which alone we
shaU then be able to stand.
But there exist other sins of a deeper dye,
and deadlier nature. Sins aggravated by every
circumstance of long continuance, and wilful
indulgence ; which have grown with our growth,
and strengthened with our strength: which
have gone on from year to year, unchecked
by reason, uninfluenced by the hopes of re
ligion, undaunted by her terrors : sins so
heinous, that whoever is unstained by them
is represented as comparatively innocent — a
transgression so flagrant, as to be distinguished
by the peculiar epithet of great. To these
sins our attention is directed by David's earnest
prayer, " Keep back thy servant also from
presumptuous sins; let them not have do
minion over me: then shaU I be upright, and
I shall be innocent from the great transgres-
sion. Sins of this kind are mentioned in Scrip
ture in terms which sufficiently declare their
flagrant nature. A person, who persists in
presumptuous sin, is said to harden his heart/
to harden his face;b to harden himself against
* Deut. xv. 7. 1 Sam. vi. 6. Mark vi. 52.
b Prov. xxi. 29-

Presumptuous Sins. 215
God/ to resist the Holy Ghost ;d to grieve,
and do despite unto the Spirit of grace.6 And
David, who prays only to be cleansed from
secret faults, beseeches the Almighty to re
strain him altogether, to keep him back, from
presumptuous sins.
I. The distinction, between a sin of pre
sumption and any other, consists not so much
in the offence itself, as in the circumstances,
under which it is committed. Whatever the
sin be, if the offender be conscious, at the
time of committing it, that the action is for
bidden, that sin is a presumptuous sin.
Under this description, then, wiU be in
cluded aU those numerous sins, which are
committed against sufficient warning.
1. There are some offences, which the
common consent of aU mankind indelibly
marks as presumptuous sins. Whoever com
mits such crimes as murder, theft, adultery,
must be conscious, at the time he commits
the act, that he is violating laws, which have
been established almost in every country and
in every age, for the security of fife, property,
and happiness. He, to whom the Scriptures
of God have been revealed, knows also, that
against crimes of this nature, the especial
c Job ix. 4. d Acts vii. 51.
c Eph. iv. 30. Heb. x. 29-

216 Lecture XL
wrath of the Almighty is most explicitly de
nounced. Whoever, therefore, after these warn
ings is led into such transgressions, assuredly
incurs all the guUt attached to a presumptuous
sin. 2. There are many other sins, of which
human laws can take no cognizance, which
yet we know to be open to the eye of Him
with whom we have to do. There are few,
who are not sometimes led to think with
anxiety upon their conduct, by hearing, or
reading, or meditating upon the word of God.
The sin of each individual, with aU its se
ducing train of causes, and aU its fearful con
sequences, is found described in the sacred
volume so clearly, so pointedly, that the most
thoughtless cannot fail to recognize his own
portrait. For some time, at least, the sinner
must feel that the very indulgence, which
he encourages, is one of those, against which
the displeasure of God is denounced ; that the
path, which he treads, is one of those marked
out in the great chart, as leading surely to
destruction. During the time that these im
pressions are made, he feels alarm for his own
state. He resolves, perhaps, to repent and to
amend. But these sensations continue but for
a while. The current of his evil life is for
an instant checked, but it is not rolled backward

Presumptuous Sins. 217
towards its source. After a few hasty reso
lutions, and a few feelings of regret, he returns
to his former habits and pursuits ; as frivolous,
as thoughtless, as absorbed in the passions
and vices of his ordinary life, as if he had
never heard the word, which is able to save
his soul. Now, what are the terms in which
Scripture addresses itself to men like these?
" Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be
a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like
unto a man beholding his' natural face in a
glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth
his way, and straightway forgetteth what
manner of man he was."f Whenever a man,
after being thus warned, returns into the evU
way, which he had resolved to forsake, he at
once is guUty of presumptuous sin; and
is obnoxious to the severest punishment de
nounced against it. God has spoken, and still
speaks by his word. He has declared fre
quently what his will is, and his long-suffering
towards mankind, " not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance."6
But if aU this long-suffering and mercy be
despised, the same infallible word declares the
consequence : " Because I have caUed, and ye
refused; I have stretched out my hand, and
1 James i. 22, 24. s 2 Pet. iii. 9.'

218 Lecture XL
no man regarded ; but ye have set at nought all
my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also wiU laugh at your calamity ; I wiU mock
when your fear cometh."h May Almighty God,
of his great mercy, keep us aU back from
presumptuous sins of such malignity as this.
3. There is stiU a degree of presumptuous
sin, in which men are apt to deceive themselves
with the fallacious hope of impuS^ty, by ascrib
ing to ignorance, what an impartial judge must
trace to culpable inattention. Many there are
who, living in a Christian land, and having been
baptized in the Christian faith, have yet ne
glected to employ such opportunities, as they
possess, of studying the Holy Scriptures, which
were written for our learning. And these men,
when they fail in the performance of duties,
which they ought to have known, and practised,
imagine that their voluntary ignorance is at once
a reason and an excuse for the omission. Now,
ignorance such as this can, evidently, form no
ground of excuse. Without presuming to say
how far the divine mercy, through the atone
ment of Christ, may be extended to those, to
whom the terms of their acceptance have never
been revealed, it is evident, that a voluntary
ignorance, which would never be aUowed as a
11 Prov. i. "24, 25.

Presumptuous Sins. 219
plea for the infringement of human laws, can
form no effectual excuse for a violation of a
divine law. And it witt make little difference,
whether the guUt of presumption be attached
immediately to the offence itself, or to the
ignorance, in consequence of which the offence
is committed. 4. Again, every sin is a presumptuous sin,
against which conscience has raised its warning
voice in vain.
At some period of their fives, aU sinners must
have experienced compunction. And whatever
be the cause of that inward feeling — whether it
be the immediate sense of right and wrong im
planted in us, the involuntary reflection of the
mind upon what passes within itself, or the
judgment, which we form, of what is known to
be our duty compared with the manner in which
we perform it — that feeling itself, if unheeded,
impresses upon the action the mark of pre
sumptuous sin. Whoever sins against such
conviction, sins with his eyes open. His own
heart condemns him, and he must know that
God is greater than his heart and knoweth every
thing. 5. Another infaUible proof of the pre
sumptuous nature of any sin is, when the
offender, at the time of committing the act,
comforts himself with the hope of future re-

220 Lecture XI.
pentance. So deceitful is the heart, that nume
rous offences are committed under this delusive
expectation. We need not now dwell upon
the faUacious nature of such a reliance. It is
sufficient to observe, that the consciousness of
guUt, which it presupposes, sufficiently proves
the presumptuous nature of the offence. Even
when a long continuance in a vicious course has
so hardened the sinner, that conscience at the
moment is silent; although the individual
offence so committed may partake of the nature
of a secret fault, yet the mind, before it reaches
this degree of depravity, must have been pre
viously stained with presumptuous guilt.
II. The consideration of some of the kinds
of presumptuous sins naturally leads us to medi
tate upon their fearful consequences.
1. The first consequence is intimated by
David himself, the state of subjection in which
the sinner is held. For his prayer is, " Keep
back thy servant also from presumptuous sins :
let them not have dominion over me."
The tendency of aU sin, especially when long
continued, is to engross the mind. Timorous-
ness, hesitation, reluctance, a secret dread of
offending, accompany the first steps of the
offender's wicked course. An act is proposed
by his associates, or suggested by his own heart,
which his better judgment disapproves. But

Presumptuous Sins. 221
he has not strength or resolution enough to
resist. Many a secret misgiving, much remorse,
much upbraiding of an accusing conscience,
foUow this compliance ; and foUow it in vain.
The second temptation finds the heart already
prepared for its reception, and predisposed to
obey its influence. The judgment is enlisted
on the side of passion, and endeavours to pal
liate, if not to excuse, the guUt. It discovers a
reason why an act sinful in itself, and guilty in
any other person, becomes so modified in his
own circumstances, as to lose much of its
atrocity. It suggests, perhaps, that the com
pliance required is in itself trifling : and that
it wiU be easy to stop in the evU course.
"Hitherto shalt thou come and no further,"
are the words, with which it expects to control
the tempestuous ocean of unruly passion. But
experience soon shews how vain are his hopes.
His sin, from having been unpremeditated and
casual, becomes presumptuous, and degenerates
into a habit. It gains the dominion over him.
He acquiesces in this subjection, with the vague
hope that circumstances may at a future period
render his reformation more easy.
Conscience sometimes interposes still: but
her voice is unheard ; or, if heard, disregarded.
The sacred volume becomes a sealed book ; its
warnings are uttered, and its promises made in

222 Lecture XI.
vain. He, who is thus under the dominion of
sin, often goes on in the same course, from year
to year, without any permanent, or effectual
improvement. Occasionally, perhaps, circum
stances alarm him for a time, and call forth
some faint resolutions of amendment. But the
chains of his adversary are bound around him
too firmly to be broken by the feeble efforts of
mortal hands. Too frequently his whole life is
spent in a vain struggle with his powerful
enemy. He may abhor his vices, but he feels
unable to escape from their fascination. He
may wish to avoid evil ; but the evil he would
not that he does. He may resolve, and
re-resolve : but he too often dies, in the same
condition in which he had lived.
There is scarcely a more pitiable object, than
a man whose sin has thus gained the dominion
over him. Yet look around, and you witt see
thousands who are thus led captive. Observe
the victim of intemperance. Hear him, in the
moments of reflection, acknowledging his weak
ness, with all the bitterness of self reproach:
lamenting the waste of health, and character:
openly confessing how sinful his course is in the
sight of God: and perhaps making the most
earnest, and apparently sincere, vows of amend
ment. Then behold him in the hour of his
temptation. The season of his accustomed

Presumptuous Sins. 223
indulgence arrives. His passions solicit their
usual gratification. The companions of his
intemperate defights surround him : he again
yields to the temptation : and continues, by
adding sin to sin, to treasure up to himself
wrath against the day of wrath.
Believe not, that among those, who appear
the most thoughtless, there are not many, who
feel and deplore the bondage, in which they
are restrained. But they have bound them
selves to a hard master, who faUs not to exact
his due; and now compels them to con
tinue in the course, into which they had at
first voluntarily entered. This is the natural
tendency of aU sin. It mingles so insidiously
with a man's ordinary pursuits, becomes by
degrees so identified with his habits of fife,
that unless, by the grace of God, he is enabled
to cast away its cords from him, he wiU soon
find himself inextricably entangled. In pro
portion also to the degree of presumption,
which characterizes any sin, is its power of
enslaving the soul. For he, who so sins,
willingly gives himself up to the consequence
of that guUt. He offers his allegiance to his
great adversary; and may therefore expect
that his voluntary obedience should terminate
in involuntary servitude.
There is also another mode, in which pre-

224 Lecture XI.
sumptuous sin gets dominion over a man, so
as to prevent his return to holiness. Even
if, by the especial mercy of God, the sinner
be made conscious of his danger, and desirous
of escaping; he often wiU have wandered so
far from the right course, that his return is
only not impossible. Nothing is so difficult
as to escape from the dominion of an unholy
life. It is hard indeed, without the assistance
of the Spirit of grace, to expose our folly
and shame to the reproach of the world; to
endure the ridicule, and scoffs of former com
panions, once perhaps esteemed for some qua
lities reaUy amiable. They, therefore, who
rely not upon that Spirit, often dare not un
dertake the task. They have not courage
enough to encounter the perils, which a return
into the path of life presents: nor power
enough to oppose the irresistible authority,
by which their sin, and the consequence of
their sin, hold them in subjection.
2. Another fatal consequence, attending a
course of presumptuous sin, is the hardness
of heart, which a continuance in sin produces.
Compunction and remorse are the first indi
cations that a man is brought to a sense of
his guilt: and every presumptuous sin has a
natural and necessary tendency to weaken this
sensibility of the conscience. A change from

Presumptuous Sins. 225
sin to godliness is represented in Scripture as
one of the most difficult things in the world.
" Can the Ethiopian change his skin," says
Jeremiah, " or the leopard his spots ? then
may ye also do good, that are accustomed to
do evil."1 Besides, as there are many, who
feel and lament how powerful is the dominion,
which their sins have obtained over them, so
are there others, who by long continuance
have acquired a stiU more dangerous affection
for their evil courses. However certain they
may be, that the end of these things is death,
they stiU fix their principal delight upon
perishing pleasures, and licentious enjoyments;
untU at length the mind becomes careless, and
the conscience seared. In this extremity, their
sin may indeed be said to have dominion over
them. It destroys not only the power, but
the very wish of amendment.
3. StiU another consequence of continuing
in presumptuous sin, is found in the judg
ments with which, even in this world, guilt
is often visited.
We five not now, it is true, under a dis
pensation, in which an immediate, open act
of providence often interposes, to cut short
the sinner in the midst of his sin. And we
are often ready enough to shut our eyes against
1 Jer. xiii, 23.
P

226 Lecture XI.
the conviction, that such signal punishment is
ever awarded. But from the unerring authority
of Scripture we learn, that the judgments of
God are sometimes most fearfuUy poured out
upon all sin, and upon presumptuous sins par
ticularly. Now this surely is a consequence
of presumptuous sin, which ought to terrify
the most audacious. He may flatter himself
that, however others be misled, his sins will
not get the dominion over him, so as to pre
vent his return to a holy fife; that his heart
wiU not be so hardened, as to preclude his
desire to amend. But who will dare to go
on in open and presumptuous sin, if he once
has the full conviction, that the anger of a
just and aU-powerful God witt pursue his
crimes, if not with present punishment, at least
with ultimate retribution.
III. It now remains that we consider the
means, which, by the divine blessing, may keep
us back from presumptuous sins, so that they
may not get the dominion over us. The words
of David, which have suggested the danger
of these sins, also supply an example of the
only means, to which sinful man can have re
course. For they contain a prayer to the
Almighty, that the evil consequences of pre
sumptuous sin may be averted by the especial
influence of Divine grace : " Keep back thy

Presumptuous Sins. 227
servant also from presumptuous sins: let them
not have dominion over me: then shall I be
upright, and I shall be innocent from the great
transgression." Prayer is ordained to be the medium of
communication between weak, offending man,
and his heavenly Father. Whtte it exhibits
and encourages a faithful reliance upon those
promises, which God has revealed, we are as
sured that it is made the means of conveying
into the mind the all-powerful influence of the
Spirit of God, to strengthen our weakness, to
dispel our fears, to raise us when we fall, and
finally to beat down Satan under our feet.
When, however, we have done all, we must
expect to find, even in our own judgment,
much which is stiU done amiss. And if we
were obliged to rely upon our own merits, for
final acceptance at the hands of a pure and
holy God, trembling indeed would be the hope,
and feeble the expectations, and melancholy
the forebodings of every soul of man. But
we have not, I trust, so learned to regard the
promises of God through the mediation of his
Son. We have read, and are sure, that by the
wonderful dispensation of the Gospel, " God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto him
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them :"
that he "who knew no sin was made sin for
p 2

228 Lecture XL
us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him."k
In proportion to the misery of those, who
are under the dominion of presumptuous sin,
is the blessedness of those, who are, by the
especial grace of God, kept back from them,
and are consequently said to be " upright, and
innocent from the great transgression."
True it is, that in many things we offend
aU: and no man can be sufficiently humble
before God, when he reflects upon his manifold
transgressions. But yet there is no cause, which
calls for a more lively expression of gratitude,
than preservation from sin. It is with no
Pharisaical reliance upon our own imperfect
services, it is with no unseemly boastings of
our own qualifications, that we lift up the
voice of thanksgiving, together with that of
prayer, if we have been enabled to avoid some
of the snares, which beset our path, and to
walk in any respect worthy of the vocation
with which we are called. We know that in
the sight of our heavenly Father we are all
deeply guilty. We look for final acceptance,
not upon the plea of our obedience, but in
firm reliance upon the mercy of God, through
the atonement once offered for sin. But still
we pray and hope for the influence of Divine
k 2 Cor. v. 19, 21.

Presumptuous Sins. 229
grace, to keep us back from presumptuous sins,
that they gain not dominion over us: that
so we may be " upright and innocent from
the great transgression."

LECTURE XII.
PURITY of words and thoughts.

Psalm XIX. 14.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditations
of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength and my redeemer.
After David has been reflecting upon the
perfection of God's law, and the imperfection
of man's obedience; and has prayed to be
defended by the Spirit of grace from secret
faults, and from presumptuous sins; he con
cludes this noble Psalm, with a prayer for
purity, in the words of his mouth, and in the
meditation of his heart. Both these qualifica
tions are indispensable to the formation of the
religious character; and the degree of per
fection, in which they are possessed, peculiarly
distinguishes the advancement which different
persons have made in the Christian course.

Purify of Words. 231
I. Purity of words is one of the most
obvious marks, by which the inward influence
of religion upon the mind is denoted. And
the absence of it, as indicated by profaneness
in any mode, is as certain a token of depravity.
But there exist gradations in vice, as well as
in virtue : and in order that the words of our
mouth may be rendered acceptable, we will
consider some of the most ordinary methdds,
in which this duty is violated.
1. The first and most offensive is by open
profaneness and blasphemy. It is grievous
that, in a Christian land, they who watch for
the souls of others, as they that must give
account/ should so frequently be caUed to
exhort and persuade men against a vice such
as this. But while, in passing through our
streets, we are shocked at expressions of the
most revolting nature, even from the mouths
of those, who are young in years, though old
in guilt, we must, at the hazard of being
tedious, or of repeating sentiments which are
common, because important, set before such
sinners the enormity of their guilt.
Open profaneness is a vice which excites
the greatest abhorrence in every reflecting mind,
whether it be thoroughly imbued with true piety
or not. There may. be vices more extensively
* Heb. xiii. 17-

232 Lecture XII.
injurious to society, and more immediately pre-
judicious to individuals, than this : but there is
none which marks greater depravity of mind,
and none which men commit with so little
even of the appearance of reason. Some of the
moral commandments of God are directed
against intemperance of every kind : and when
a man breaks through them, he endeavours to
paUiate his guilt, by urging the force of his
passions, or the pecufiar temperament of his
constitution. But to impiety and blasphemy
no man ever pretended that he was consti
tutionally prone. Some of the commandments
of God are directed against unlawful gain.
And when a man breaks through these, he
generally represents to himself, either the im
perious necessity of some immediate want, or
the expectation of some great contingent adr
vantage. But what advantage can any one
expect from defying that God, from whom
alone all blessings proceed?
Notwithstanding, however, the unreasonable
ness of this heinous vice, we need but little
experience to find how many there are who
practise it. That this is done without any
peculiar temptation we have already seen.
Consider, besides, the extreme evil which it
produces. First, it is the direct breach of
a command of God himself: " Thou shalt not

Purity of Words. 233
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." b
In the next place, it encourages, beyond all
other vices,- an habitual disregard for holy
things. He, who blasphemes his Maker, will
have little inclination to obey his commands.
He, who is constantly imprecating curses upon
others and upon himself, must soon cease to
regard the dreadful punishment, to which al
lusion is so lightly made, as it reaUy deserves
to be regarded, and as he will, if he repent
not, hereafter be compelled to regard it. Be
sides, blasphemy is a contagious vice. The ear
of the young is, at first, shocked with the
irreverent manner, in which the attributes of
God are mentioned. But famUiarized by de
grees, and led to consider this most abhorrent
practice as a mark of superiority, they are but
too frequently seduced to follow an example,
from which they originally recoUed with dis
gust. As it is much easier to contract an evil
habit, than to shake it off, they who are guUty
of this sin, although they can find little excuse
for first acquiring it, sometimes attempt to pal
liate their continuance in it, by urging their
inability to escape from its bondage. They
wiU say, that the expressions, which they
employ, are become so familiar as to be used
b Exod. xx. 7.

234 Lecture XII.
without any evil intention, and frequently
without consciousness : and that no caution can
prevent an involuntary offence. Now if this
excuse were true, what a degree of depravity
would it argue. But the excuse is not true.
Place the blasphemer in the presence of those
whom he respects and fears, and his tongue
ceases to utter impieties against the most High.
Here, then, is a practical proof that it is possible,
at least, to keep the door of his lips. And if
he wUl not exercise the same forbearance at all
times, it is because he does not, or witt not,
remember, that there is One ever present, infi
nitely superior to every human power, who
hears every idle, much more every impure
word ; and what he hears, records ; and what he
records, witt judge.
But it is needless, in this place, to dweU
longer upon this flagrant vice. No one here
present will hesitate to acknowledge, that words
of blasphemy are not the words which can ever
be acceptable in the sight of that pure God, who
is our strength and our redeemer.
2. Another mode, in which our words are
turned to our own hurt, is by treating the Holy
Scriptures, and any thing belonging to religion,
with levity or irreverence. Even those, who
believe in the Scriptures, are sometimes found
to commit this sin. And ridicule has long been

Purity of Words. 235
the weapon, which the enemies of revelation
have wielded, as the most effectual to promote
their unhallowed designs. But whether it be
the deceitful friend, or the open enemy, that
offers this dishonour to the word of truth, their
conduct is not only in the highest degree im
pious, but most irrational.
Whatever men may choose to say of the
Scriptures, and whatever they may wish to
befieve, the subjects treated of in the sacred
volume are so exceedingly important in their con
sequences, that they deserve and require, at all
events, to be treated with seriousness. A book
is put into the hands of man, purporting to be a
revelation from his Maker ; professing to com
municate the will of God to mankind ; and to
disclose eternal fife, and eternal death ; together
with the means, by which the one may be
obtained, and the other avoided. It is a book,
which has been received as authentic by far the
greater part of those, to whom it has fairly been
proposed, by almost att the most learned, by all
the most virtuous. The issues, which depend
upon its truth, are the most immediately interest
ing to every individual ; and of the most awful
kind. It speaks of man as a fallen creature,
liable to the wrath of an omnipotent God. It
speaks of the majesty, the eternity, the power,
the purity of a Being, " dwelling in the light

236 Lecture XII.
which no man may approach unto: whom no
man hath seen nor can see."0 It discloses some
few but most dreadful particulars of those
" angels, which kept not their first estate, but
left their own habitation," and are " reserved in
everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the
judgment of the great day."d It speaks of the
Son of God leaving the glories of heaven, and
putting on the form of man, and enduring a life
of suffering, and a death of ignominy, that all
who believe in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life. It speaks of the terrors of
judgment to come : and of the fate of endless
ages, to be passed in bliss unutterable, or in
misery inconceivable, according to that judg
ment. Now, this I maintain, that, setting aside all
the evidence of our religion's truth, for a man
to treat a book, which has att these pretensions,
with levity, with ridicule, with contempt, is one
of the grossest instances of extreme folly which
can be found. After all the scoffs of infidelity,
and the foolish insinuations of the thoughtless,
the great question will still be left where it was
before. Bidicule is not argument. There wUl
stiU be a heaven, and a hell: a soul to save,
or to lose: a short perishable time of proba
tion ; an unchangeable eternity. Whether it be
c 1 Tim. vi. 16. d Jude 6.

Purity of Words. 237
wise so to think, and so to speak, of a religion,
upon which so much may depend, judge ye.
But what shall we say of those who, be
lieving and knowing the Bible to be true, and
professing to look to it as the only guide and
comfort of their lives, sometimes allow them
selves to indulge in unholy levity, upon its
doctrines, or its history: introduce into their
ordinary language disrespectful allusions to its
sacred mysteries ; or abuse the solemn grandeur
of its diction, to give an epigrammatic point to
poetry, to enliven familiar conversation, or to
adorn a tale ? Surely these know not of what
spirit they are. " My heart standeth in awe of
thy word"6, says David. And this respectful
fear wiU be exhibited by all who, like David,
wish the words of their mouth to be acceptable
to God. 3. StiU a third instance, in which the words
of our mouth are prevented from being accept
able in the sight of God, is when our duty of
prayer to him is either totaUy omitted, or careless
ly performed. And this deficiency in our duty
is of no uncommon occurrence. Too many,
who call themselves Christians, have by degrees
allowed the regular observance of family wor
ship and of private prayer to faU into neglect.
Forgetting the inestimable benefits which prayer
c Psalm cxix. 16'1.

238 Lecture XII.
is made the means of procuring — the intimate
connection which it is calculated to maintain
between the Lord of Heaven and the sinful
inhabitants of the earth— the powerful check,
which it often gives, even to the most unruly
passions— and the comfort, which it sheds upon
the hours of affliction, when the world and the
things of the world are rejected as utterly
worthless — breaking the very commandment of
God, "Pray without ceasing,"5 " pray always,"6
"continue instant in prayer"b— unmoved by the
assurances, " by thy words thou shalt be justi
fied, and by thy words thou shalt be con
demned;"1 "by the mouth, confession is made
unto salrvation"k — disregarding the example,
which our Saviour Christ himself gave us that
we should follow his steps, and the examples
of all those holy men, who have been successively
raised up to give light to the world — many,
who yet consider themselves in the pale of the
Christian Church, who look for salvation by no
other means, and, whenever they think upon
religion at all, think upon it with the reverence
it deserves, do yet go on, from day to day,
and from year to year, without once bending
the knee in private supplication to God ; without
f 1 Thess. v. 17- s Eph. vi. 18.
h Rom. xii. 12. Col. iv. 2. ' Matth. xii. 37.
k Rom. x. 10.

Purity of Words. 239
once calling around them their family and their
household, to worship Him, who alone setteth
the poor on high from affliction, and maketh
him famUies like a flock1.
Now this surely ought not to be. In the
sight of God, the words of that man can never
be acceptable, who neglects his commands, sets
at nought his counsel and his instruction, and
wttfuUy neglects the principal means of grace,
which in his mercy He has vouchsafed to
sinners. Again, the words of our mouth are un
acceptable, when our offering of prayer is made
with irreverence, or with carelessness. The
duty of public worship has always been con
sidered most important, and susceptible of being
rendered most advantageous. The solemnity
of the place in which we assemble, the force
of association, which enters more or less into
almost all our actions, and the influence of
example, jointly conspire to give a higher tone to
our devotions in public than to those of a more
private nature. Still it requires but little
observation, in every assembly for public
worship, to discern many, whose careless de
meanour and wandering eye sufficiently indicate
the inattention of their minds: and that more
especially, when their own duty of prayer and
1 Psalm cvii. 41.

240 Lecture XII.
of hearing the revealed word of God is to be
performed. Some perhaps may be seen engaged
in frivolous discourse; some whose thoughts
are manifestly roving abroad among the world
and its pursuits; and some, who even inten
tionally and habitually slumber away the time,
which a sense of decency or of duty has induced
them to spend within these sacred walls. I
would not now speak of the influence of this
evil example on those around them: although
that is great and dangerous. But I would
ask such persons how they witt answer for
this negligence — to call it by no severer name —
at the great day of general account? They
are here, to make the words of their mouth
acceptable to their Creator and Bedeemer:
to offer up the voice of prayer and praise.
If they wilfuUy neglect this duty, if they are
less ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice
of fools, undoubtedly they are committing a
very great and dangerous sin. If this be done
through thoughtlessness ; a rational being ought
surely to be thoughtful in the more immediate
presence of God in his courts : if through wilful
ness ; the most daring ought to tremble, when
he knows that God requireth truth in the
inward parts, and that he has both an eye
to discern, and an arm to avenge, whatever is
wilfully done amiss.

Purity of Thought. 241
That purity of words, then, for which David
so earnestly prays, is principally violated by
open profaneness, by treating the Holy Scrip
tures with irreverence : and by omitting, or
carelessly performing, the duty of prayer.
II. But David further prays that "the
meditation of his heart may be acceptable" in
the sight of God.
The effect of refigion upon the soul of
man is marked by the degree of habitual
influence, which it obtains over his heart. In
order that refigion may be reatty effective in any
one, its motives, its hopes and fears, its general
precepts, must enter deeply into his customary
train of thought; and present themselves to
his mind without effort, as soon as any occasion
calls them forth. When the time of immediate
action, or the trying hour of temptation is
come, it is then too late to be acquiring the
religious knowledge, which may enable us to
encounter the difficulty. Deep and earnest
meditation must first have familiarised the mind
with the great truths of religion; and enabled
it, at one glance, to discern the connection
of the several parts, which complete the
scheme. Long continued discipline must have
trained the Christian soldier, and taught him
to draw forth, and effectually employ the
pofished weapons, supplied by the armoury of
Q

242 Lecture XII.
faith. This is the only way in which accurate
information is obtained upon any point. Patient
thought and gradual investigation are the only
sure guides to accurate knowledge. In propor
tion, then, as religion is of more importance
than any thing else in the world, both in
its influence upon our conduct in this life,
and in its promotion of our eternal interest
in the world to come, religious meditation
is also necessary above all other. By means
of it, a man is made to feel individually
interested in the great duties of his religion:
and their influence on his mind is rendered
permanent and practical. It sustains a kind
of perpetual devotion, which actuates and per
vades the soul sttently, yet irresistibly ; teaches
it on aU occasions, and at all times, to regard
the will of God revealed in his Scriptures, as
the unerring rule of conduct : and the motives
of religion as real, stable, sufficient inducements
to persevere in holiness of life. UntU the mind
has been thus trained, refigion has not gained
its proper ascendency over the heart: and
until that time, the meditations of our heart
cannot be considered acceptable in the sight of
God. David, in conclusion, aUudes to the only
means, by which we may obtain these qualifi
cations, and the only foundation for our hopes—

1 J

Purity of Words and Thoughts. 243
the power of God, who is our strength and
our Redemer. A
Whoever trusts to his own unassisted en
deavours, wiU assuredly fail in the hour of
trial. Whoever trusts that he shall be preter-
naturaUy assisted, without using such means
as the Divine mercy has given him, has no
reason to expect the fulfilment of his hopes.
But if, with full reliance upon God's grace,
which is sufficient for us, we endeavour earnestly
to attain the prize of our high calling, we have
reason to hope and believe, that our labour
wUl not be in vain in the Lprd: that the
words of our mouths and the mentations of
our hearts may be acceptable to God, our
strength and our Redeemer.
Even conviction of the evidence of religion,
and admiration of its precepts, will vary with
the degree of holiness, which each individual
has been enabled to attain. The heavens, it
is true, declare the glory of God: the firma
ment sheweth his handy work : but they speak
a language unintelligible to those, whose minds
are still clouded by a vicious life. The word
of God is indeed most perfect, converting the
soul : most sure, making wise the simple : most
right, rejoicing the heart : most pure, enlighten
ing the eyes : most clean, enduring for ever :
most true, and righteous altogether: more de-
Q 2

244 Lecture XII.
sirable than earthly treasures: more delightful
than mere earthly joys. It warns by its terrors,
and allures by its exceeding great rewards — but
man may neglect this great salvation, and do
despite to the Spirit of grace. Happy is he,
who is endued with strength to employ these
means to the salvation of his soul: who is
made to understand his errors, cleansed from
his secret faults, kept back from the dominion
of presumptuous sin, whose words and thoughts
are so purified, by the influence of the Holy
Spirit, as to be acceptable in the sight of
the Lord; who is truly his strength and his
Redeemer.

PART IV.

LECTURE XIII.
ON the omnipresence of god.

Psalm CXXXIX. 7, 8, 9, 10.
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall
I flee from thy presence f If I ascend up into
heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell,
behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea ; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me.
The imperfection of language, and the in
adequacy of our own ideas, are more than
usuatty felt, whenever our attention is directed
towards the attributes of God.
Even the words, which Revelation has
adopted to display the divine perfections, are
often necessarily figurative; and convey im
pressions which must be in some measure

246 Lecture XIII.
indefinite: and our own contemplations are
soon lost in the consideration of a Being, so
incomparably superior to every thing created.
Still these perfections are frequently displayed
in the written word of God: and therefore
were intended to be meditated upon by his
rational creatures, for the enlargement of their
mental faculties, as well as for their improve
ment in holiness. No well regulated mind can
ever contemplate a Being of infinite wisdom,
and mercy, and power, whose presence fills all
space, and whose knowledge embraces the very
thoughts of all men, without feelings of deep
and sincere humility. With these dispositions
let us consider the omnipresence of the Deity,
as displayed in the works of the creation, and
as revealed in his holy word.
I. We may form some conception of the
omnipresence of God, by observing the wide
field, in which his power is exerted. Our
faculties, it is true, are capable of contemplating
only a very small portion of the universe. We
soon arrive at a limit, when we direct our at
tention to objects either greater or less than
ourselves, beyond which our senses, even as
sisted by artificial means, are unable to pene
trate. We approach a degree of minuteness,
which our minds may indeed conceive capable
of further sub-division, but which our sight

Omnipresence of God. 247
or touch would then cease to recognize. We
form, on the other hand, the conception of
indefinite number, or of unbounded extent;
but our observation is conversant with finite
objects only : and even our reasoning appears
strictly conclusive only whtte it treats of sub
jects, which are limited in extent. Yet, even
in this comparatively small scale, how wonder
ful and extensive are the proofs which we find
of the continued care of an omnipresent God.
We need not now insist merely upon the nu
merous contrivances for the comfort and sub
sistence of every species of created beings, nor
upon that exquisite nicety, with which the
.most minute parts of every individual are
finished. It is not that these offer no proof
of the omnipresence of their great Creator, as
indicated by his watchful care over them: but
it is a proof, which the perverseness of mis
guided man may elude, by referring to another
attribute of the Deity, his omnipotence. It is
certainly conceivable — for it has been imagined—
that a Being of infinite power should, at the be
ginning, make aU things both in the heaven,
and the earth, so that they should continue for
ever in one unvaried course. So that the earth
should bring forth grass, and the fruit-tree fruit
after its kind; and that cattle and creeping thing
should succeed each other in an uninterrupted

248 Lecture XIIL
series. Thus the Deity would be considered
to be infinite indeed in wisdom and in power,
but as far removed from any immediate care
for the universe which he had created. The
mere existence then of great contrivance and
great care, in aU the different parts of animated
creation, might not alone furnish a proof of
the omnipresence of the Deity, in the sense
for which we contend, although it would af
ford evidence of his omnipotence and goodness.
Still the existence of the animated creation,
as we find it, does, surely, furnish also a proof
of the Divine omnipresence. If each species
of animals, and of vegetables, had originally
been created, so as to possess within itself the
means of increase, and to be capable of sub
sisting independently of the rest, it might he
argued, that every separate line had been con
tinued, without the necessity of any subsequent
interference of the creator's hand : and it might
be, perhaps, no easy matter to shew the fallacy
of the argument, and the faultiness of the
conclusion. But when the whole universe, animate and
inanimate, is maintained by a continual balance
of conflicting forces — when every species of
created beings is implicated with every other
species, destroying and being destroyed — when
the existence of every plant is threatened by

Omnipresence of God. 249
some peculiar tribe of insect, which, in turn,
is only kept within proper limits by enemies
of its own — when numerous animals live only
by the destruction of others, and yet become
themselves a prey to some more powerful an
tagonist — and when, notwithstanding all this,
plants, and insects, and animals have continued
to exist, from the creation to this day, in all
probability undiminished in number, and un
impaired in power — when none has fallen a
victim to the undue increase of another, and
individuals of every kind have lived in the en
joyment of the faculties, with which the Creator
had blessed them, and promoted, in their life
and by their death, their own part in the grand
scheme of existence — we must surely be con
strained to confess, that the same God, who,
by his voice, called into fife the wonders of
creation, still interposes to direct them with his
presiding care. And if the Almighty inter
poses at all, he interposes every where, and
always. For it is impossible to conceive that
any one part of creation should possess the
exclusive privilege of the Divine care. If the
complicated plan of organized nature proves
the presence of God, its unity of design and
execution prove his omnipresence.
It is only when a blessing is removed, that
we feel fully sensible of its value : and we may

250 Lecture XIII.
be enjoying the continual advantages, which we
derive from the care of an ever present God,
every day of our lives, without knowing the
extent of the benefit ; or indeed without think
ing about it at all. But no one, who does think
upon the subject, will say, that the evils, which
we might experience, were even the inferior
tribes of created beings suffered to increase
without a mutual check, are imaginary, or
trifling, or few. For the punishment of sin,
the balance of animated nature has sometimes
been intentionaUy destroyed. When Israel
came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the
land of Ham, what were the plagues which
the Almighty poured out upon Pharaoh and
upon his host ? Not only did he give them
hailstones for rain, and flames of fire in their
land ; not only did he smite aU the first-born in
their land, even the chief of all their strength ;
but he removed those barriers, which himself
had created, against the undue increase of the
insect tribes; and overwhelmed his enemies
with their noisome swarms. " He spake, and
there came divers sorts of flies; and lice in
all their coasts." a " He spake, and the locusts
came, and caterpttlars, and that without num
ber ; and did eat up aU the herbs in their land,
and devoured the fruit of their ground."
* Psalm cv. 31, 34.

Omnipresence of God. 251
Upon other occasions, and for other sins,
has the locust, one of the most dreadful scourges
of the Almighty, been sent upon the earth
to destroy it. The whole force even of inspired
language is employed, in describing the ravages
of the "Northern army." "A nation is come
up upon my land," says the prophet Joel,
" strong, and without number ; whose teeth
are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek
teeth of a great lion."b " Let all the inhabitants
of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord
cometh, for it is nigh at hand : a day of darkness
and of gloominess ; a day of clouds and of thick
darkness. A fire devoureth before them ; and
behind them a flame burnetii : The land is as
the garden of Eden before them; and behind
them a desolate wttderness. Yea, and nothing
shaU escape them . . . Before their face the people
shall be much pained ; all faces shall gather
blackness. They shall run like mighty men:
they shall climb the wall like men of war;
and they shall march every one on his ways,
and they shall not break their ranks : neither
shaU one thrust another : they shall walk every
one in his path : and when they fall upon the
sword they shall not be wounded."0 These
words are not the exaggerated representation
of poetic fancy: the words of the prophet are
b Joel i. 6'. c Joel ii. 1—8.

252 Lecture XIII.
confirmed in the fullest manner by the history
of ages, and the researches of science. Now
to a plague similar in kind, if not equal in
degree, we are aU continuaUy liable, from causes,
over which we have no control. If the whole
world is not overrun with these, or with other
creatures, as insignificant individuaUy, and as
irresistible when collected, it is because the
providence of an omnipresent God retains each
species in subservience to its own use, and
restricted to its proper bounds. If then, any
of the less powerful animals could, by their
undue increase, render a fruitful land barren,
how desolate might the face" of nature be
rendered, if the preventive care of the Almighty
were for an instant remitted. And since no
such general confusion is observed, we may
conclude even from observation alone, that
the care of God is co-extensive with his
works. How boundless, then, is even this conception
of the Divine Essence. Whither can we go
from His Spirit ; or whither shall we flee from
his presence? If we ascend up into heaven,
he is there. Even the material heavens, the
works of his hands, declare the glory of God :
and while their simplicity and magnificence
denote his wisdom, what testimony does their
continuance bear to his omnipresence.

Omnipresence of God. 253
Men may, indeed, accustom themselves to
the contemplation of the regular order of the
universe; and calculate the operation of the
forces, which act upon the several parts ; until
they almost persuade themselves that they have
unvetted the hidden mysteries of omnipotence.
They may discover with sagacity, and in
vestigate with care, a general law ; and having
denominated it the law of nature, may presume
that they have solved the great problem of
creation. But this law, as has been already
argued,d supersedes not the necessity of the
Divine superintendence. It is but the regular
operation of a great cause, originaUy emanating
from the wiU of God, and depending for its
continuance upon his good pleasure. We see
every where the marks of contrivance ; and we
conclude that there must have been a contriver.
We see every where the marks of continued
care; either by active interference, or by
forbearing to disturb what already exists ; and
we thence conclude, not only that the Almighty
is all wise, but that his power is every where
present. II. Such are some of the proofs, in the
works of nature, by which we learn the
omnipresence of God. But from his own word
do we derive the most infallible proof: and
d Lecture II. IV.

254 Lecture XIII.
from that alone do we obtain all our knowledge
of his moral omnipresence. We there read
the words, which God spake, by the mouth
of Jeremiah his prophet : " Am I a God at hand,
saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?— Can
any hide himself in secret places, that I shaU
not see him? saith the Lord: do I not fill
heaven and earth ? saith the Lord."6 We there
read also these words of the Almighty, " though
they dig into hell, thence shaU mine hand
take them : though they climb up to heaven,
thence will I bring them down. And though
they hide themselves in the top of Carmel,
I wiU search and take them out thence; and
though they be hid from my sight in the
bottom of the sea, thence will I command the
serpent, and he shall bite them."f "He is
not far from every one of us," says St. Paul,
"for in him we live and move and have our
being." g "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit,"
says David in a strain of unparallelled sublimity ;
" or whither shall I flee from thy presence ?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there;
if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art
there. If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
c Jer. xxiii. 23, 24. f Amos ix. 2.
15 Acts xvii. 27, 28.

Omnipresence of God. 255
even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy
right hand shall hold me."
If, however, we should have collected att
that can be deduced from observation, and from
reason, and studied all that is revealed for
our learning, how imperfect would still be
the estimate, which we could form, of a God
present every where and always : entirely
present in every place, without removal from
any other : actively interfering in all the
works of nature, without distraction. That
these things are so, we know : but we presume
not to ask, "how can these things be." We
dare not in our ignorance suppose, with some
bold men, because man, and his world, and his
pursuits, form so minute a part in the universe,
that therefore he may be overlooked by the
Creator of att things. To entertain such a sup
position, would be to limit the incomprehensible
God within the bounds of our minute com
prehension. It is not that we arrogantly
attribute to ourselves an importance in the
realms of space, to which we have no claim.
We see that no object is removed, by its
minuteness, from the care of the Almighty:
and we read in the word of God that " his eyes
behold, his eyelids try the chUdren of men."h
Therefore we acquiesce in the degree of know-
k Psalm xi. 4.

256 Lecture XIII.
ledge which we have ; and after contemplating
the heavens, the moon and the stars which
he has ordained, we exclaim with humifity,
" What is man that thou visitest him, or the
son of man that thou so regardest him?"1 but
we believe that man is visited by the Creator
of the world, and that the Son of man is
regarded. This, however, is more than a mere acqui
escence in the belief of an undoubted fact.
If it be an immense conclusion that there is
a God, it is a no less interesting conclusion
that God exists in all places, and at all times :
that he is every where present, in his eternal
and all pervading Spirit; that he compasseth
our path, and our lying down ; and is acquainted
with all our ways.
Let us, then, consider some of the practical
benefits, which we may and ought to derive
from the continued sense of God's presence.
1. If we really feel that a Being, almighty
in power, and of infinite purity, and of unerring
justice, is for ever with us ; a Being to whom
all hearts are open, all desires known, and from
whom no secrets are hid, how careful should
we be to set him always before us.
The presence of the meanest of human beings
would be some check, in the most inconsiderate,
' Psalm viii. 4.

Omnipresence of God. 257
against the commission of many a sin. If, at
the moment in which any one were about to
commit an evU action, with what thoughtless
ness or hardihood he might, an angel of light
should suddenly come down from above, armed
with a commission of immediate vengeance
upon the offender, how would the stoutest heart
be seen to tremble, and the firmest knee to
bend. No man would dare, in the presence of
the celestial messenger, openly to persist in his
wickedness, and caU down punishment upon
himself. How much greater, then, should be
the dread arising from the presence of the
eternal God himself, who seeth not after the
seeing of our eyes, nor heareth after the
hearing of our ears, but judgeth with un
biassed and righteous judgment; and what
he now condemns, will hereafter assuredly
punish. If we believe God to be omnipresent, we
must believe him to be omniscient. The mur
derer may rise with the fight, to kill the poor
and needy, and in the night as a thief ;k the
eye also of the adulterer may wait for the
twilight, saying No eye shaU see me, and dis
guise his face. But before the all-seeing God,
the night is as clear as the day : yea the darkness
is no darkness unto him : the darkness and light
k Job xxiv. 14, 15.
R

258 Lecture XIII.
to him are both alike. All the workers of
ungodliness may flatter themselves in then: own
sight : but they witt in vain attempt to escape
the notice of their God. "Hell," says the
pious Job, "is naked before Him: and de
struction hath no covering."1 "Hell and de
struction are before the Lord," says Solomon,
"much more then, the hearts of the children
of men."m In a world constituted like the present, we
are all constantly liable to fall into temptation.
And when we are tempted, whether in society
or in solitude, there is no surer means of
resistance to the destroyer, than to possess a
well grounded and habitual consciousness of the
presence of God. That to every impious deed
and thought God is a witness ; that he knows
and marks those actions, which he will hereafter
judge ; that he observes the .progress of sin and
of grace in our hearts, knowing weU the horrors
of remorse, and the struggles of repentance, and
the ardent desire for mercy, which many an
afflicted soul feels within itself ; and that he is
ever assisting our feeble efforts, and strengthen
ing our failing power, is an encouragement to
every good work, and a motive to avoid every
evil way, the most powerful that reason could
devise. If this thought were really as familiar
1 Job xxvi. 6. m Prov. xv. 11.

Omnipresence of God. 259
to our minds as it ought to be, it would hinder
the commission of many a careless, and many
a presumptuous sin. Men may forget that
the eye of the Lord is ever upon them ; and
consequently may act as if under no restraint.
Men may drive away from their attention a
truth which, if admitted, must be so irk
some, and so terrible to the workers of ini
quity. But to sin, with a full conviction
that the immediate presence of an all pure
God is around us and within us, is a degree of
depravity, which few, we may hope, have ever
attained. 2. The sense of God's active omnipresence
should also teach us to be sincere in all our
dealings. The mind of the Almighty under-
standeth our thoughts "afar off." Before ever
they have been moulded within the recesses of
our hearts, and stamped as our own by the act
of our volition, there are they discerned with
clearness, and judged with equity. To attempt
then to dissemble in the presence of God is most
futile, and most impious. If man deals with
man, he may for a time deceive his vigUance,
and derive a cursory advantage from the deceit.
He may assign for his own conduct other
motives, than those which really actuate him ;
and assume a virtue which he does not possess.
He may conceal the pride, or the wantonness,
R 2

260 Lecture XIII.
or the infidefity of his heart ; he may clothe
hypocrisy in the garb of holiness, and whiten
and make fair the outside of a sepulchre, which
within is full of dead men's bones and of all
uncleanness. But where is that hypocrite, who
would dare to dissemble before the living God?
He needeth not that any should testify of man :
for he knoweth what is in man. With him
it is in vain to flatter with our mouth, and
dissemble in our tongue." He requireth truth
in the inward parts : " for the Lord seeth not
as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance: but the Lord looketh upon the
heart."0 To put on in his presence the coun
terfeit resemblance of any virtue, is but to bring
down punishment upon our own heads. To
address our prayers to his awful throne with
our lips, whUe our hearts are far from him, is,
if possible, worse than actual neglect: it is a
mockery of a Being, whom it is impossible to
deceive. 3. Another most important advantage, to
be derived from our knowledge of God's omni
presence, is the support, and consolation,
which it is calculated to afford in the day of
adversity. And happy are they, who have
thus learned to obtain, from their sense of
n Psalm lxxviii. 36. ° \ Sam. xvi. 7-

Omnipresence of God. 261
God's superintending care, a very present help
in time of trouble.
What more effectual comfort, indeed, can
we receive, than this : that the God, whom we
adore, and in whom we trust, is ever watching
over us for our good: ordering the course of
every event, however apparently trivial; and
leading us on, sometimes indeed by rough, and
intricate, and unpleasing paths, to that place of
rest where we would be? Reason alone can
shew to a certain degree the omnipresence of
God, from the operations of his hands. Hope
can point out his mercy, so eminently con
spicuous over all his works, and almost conclude,
that a Being so beneficent will not willingly
afflict, or grieve the children of men. But
faith, founded upon the unerring promises of
God's most true and holy word, teaches and
assures us, that the Creator himself " is nigh
unto all that call upon him : yea all such as call
upon him faithfully : He will fulfil the desire
of them that fear him ; He also wUl hear their
cry, and wiU save them."p Sincerely to feel a
firm reliance upon these promises of God, so as
to derive a lasting and unfailing support in all
those troubles, which weigh down the soul,
is a practical advantage from the doctrine
of an Omnipresent God, which they only,
p Psalm cxlv. 18.

262 Lecture XIII.
who have experienced it, can duly appreciate.
And they who have so learned " to rest upon
divine protection, gather thence a force and
faith, which human nature in itself could not
attain.'"5 Such are the conclusions, which we should
draw, and the benefits, which we should derive,
from our knowledge of the Divine Omnipre
sence. Whither shall we go from the Spirit
of God, or whither shall we flee from his pre
sence ? In the solitude of our chambers, in the
tumult of the world ; in our datty occupations,
in our accidental pursuits ; in our hours of
sadness, and in our moments of joy ; in our
devotions to the throne of life, and in our guilty
compliance with the ways of death, we are still
in the presence of that great Being, in whom
we live, and move, and exist. The sinner may
follow a multitude to do evil : but his individual
offence is yet seen, and recorded, with perfect
clearness. He may retire into solitude: but
in solitude is God found. In the darkness, as
in the light, in the inmost recesses of the most
artful heart, as well as in the actions, the eye
of the most Highest can read the very hidden
thoughts. What manner of persons, then,
ought we to be in all holy conversation and
godliness. How careful so to live, as in the
' Bacon. Essay on Atheism.

Omnipresence of God. 263
presence of our eternal and impartial judge:
so to purify our thoughts from all hypocrisy,
as before one who knoweth them aU: and
so to endure the trials of life and the pains
of death, as conscious of a continual support,
which the world can neither give, nor take
away.

LECTURE XIV.
ON THE SCRIPTURAL ESTIMATE OF TALENT.

Psalm CXI. 10.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom',
a good understanding have all they that do
his commandments: his praise endureth for
ever.
The estimate, which religion forms of many
things, is totally different from that made by
the world at large. It has frequently been
observed, that the dispositions most esteemed
by society, ambition, emulation, the love of
distinction, and the ardour for fame, are the
very qualities against which the injunctions
of the Gospel are most expressly directed:
and also that when their consequences are
carefully and accurately traced, these dis
positions are found to be as generally injurious,
as they are by the inconsiderate generally ap--
proved. Thus reason, which perhaps never

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 265
might have discovered the tendency of certain
rules of action, can discern the supreme wisdom,
which forbids them, when they are forbidden.
And few, if any, moralists, who have written
since life and immortality were brought to
fight through the Gospel, faU to acknowledge
that the patience under injuries, the quietness,
the long-suffering, the forbearance, the relin
quishment of self, which is so constantly en
joined by the Gospel, are the very habits of
thought, and action, which are especially con
ducive to the general interest of mankind.
But it has not, I think, been so often
noticed, that the Scriptures contain also an
estimate of talent peculiar to themselves. The
world is very apt to be struck with what are
called great abttities. An acute and penetrating
inteUect, which seizes with avidity, and retains
with accuracy, the impressions made upon it,
is what the most anxious parent would often
pray, in sincerity of heart, might be bestowed
upon the child of his affections. And if he
were told that in encouraging such a wish,
unless it embraced far more important, though
less splendid, qualifications, he was only seeking
to draw down misery both upon him, who was
the object of it, and upon society at large, he
might perhaps consider the objector merely as
# setter forth of strange opinions.

266 Lecture XIV.
StiU it is true, that those very talents, which
are most admired in the world, are singularly
liable to abuse ; and when abused, or even when
partiaUy misapplied, tend in an eminent degree
to render the possessor miserable.
Examples there are both numerous and weU
known, in which the very acuteness, which
might have been employed to the noblest
purposes, has been perverted to serve the ends
of party, to sharpen the acrimony of resent
ment, and point the stings of vengeance.
Literary history unfortunately recounts too
many instances of men, who begun fife under
every circumstance of encouragement, and yet
have, in the end, afforded an awful warning.
A vivid imagination, uncontroUed by religious
principle, encouraged by indulgence, fed with
popular applause, has become the severest
punishment to its own possessor. The same
ingenuity, which might, under proper restraint,
have discovered, and successfully investigated,
tracts in the realms of science hitherto unex
plored, has been employed in ingeniously
heightening and combining imaginary injuries ;
and in giving reality to the phantoms of caprice.
However fanciful such subjects of unhappiness
may be, they are still felt, and acted upon.
And they are peculiarly painful in this respect,
that, existing only in the mind of the sufferer,

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 267
they allow of but little alleviation from a change
in external circumstances.
Neither are the evil consequences, arising
from the abuse of intellectual power, confined
to the individual.
All the seductive powers of language have
been employed, to clothe falshood in the
garb of truth; to remove from the inex
perienced mind that sure guide of his conduct,
which is afforded in the written word of God ;
and to substitute for it, not merely the un
certain deductions of man's erring reason, but the
dictates of his perverted imagination. The feel
ings — a man's own judgment upon what he
does, from whatever cause that judgment is
derived — have been seriously laid down as a
rule, by which our conduct is to be regulated.
Consequences equally lamentable have fol
lowed the misapplication of scientific attain
ments. That penetrating glance of the mind,
which might have looked through the wonder
ful fabric of nature, and there read indelibly
impressed the marks of the superintending pro
vidence, and astonishing wisdom, and incon
ceivable power, of the God of nature, has been
distorted in order to discern some point which
might be represented as useless or imperfect.
They who would be wise above that which
is written have been puffed up with the vain

268 Lecture XIV.
conceit of their own imagination. They have
dared to arraign the supreme will, and to
cavil at the precepts of God's holy word.
Being thus led on from doubt to doubt, con
ceiving themselves able to solve all mysteries
and all knowledge, it is no wonder that, pro
fessing themselves wise, they have become
fools. Endeavouring to measure by the frail
standard of human intellect, those high things
of God, into which the very angels of heaven
desire in vain to look, they have been given
over to their own devices, and become fearful
instances of the weakness of that reason, which
would raise itself above what it was intended
to accomplish. Now, in the Scriptures, we find nothing
like this high estimate of natural abilities. If
ever they have occasion to mention the ac
quisitions of science, it is rather with a caution
not to abuse them, and an intimation how
dangerous are the dispositions, which they are
calculated to cherish. They hold up a standard
widely different, and estimate talent by another
scale: and that scale is expressed in the words
of the text. " The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom: a good understanding
have all they that do his commandments."
This term, " the fear of the Lord," is used in
Scripture in different senses.

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 269
Its primary meaning is that filial respect
for the commands and will of God, by which
the soul is induced and enabled to obey his
commandments, and to frame its conduct in
conformity with them. It is in this sense,
that God says of his people, I wUl put my
fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart
from me;° that David declares, "his salvation
is nigh them that fear him;"b and he will
fulfil their desire ;u that Solomon commands
his son to " fear the Lord, and depart from
evil,"d and enjoins aU men to "fear God, and
keep his commandments: for this is the whole
duty of man."e
There is also another fear of God, of a very
different kind, the fear, which arises in a mind
conscious of guilt, when it reflects upon the
grievous consequences to which it was exposed.
It was with such fear as this, that Felix
trembled before his prisoner Paul, as he reason
ed of temperance and righteousness, and judg
ment to come/ And it is this fear also, which
St. John declares exists not in those who have
the love of God, for perfect love casteth out
servile fear.6
a Jer. xxxii. 40. b Psalm lxxxv. 9.
c Psalm cxlv. 19- d Prov. iii. 7.
e Eccles. xii. 13. f Acts xxiv. 25.
* 1 John iv. 18.

270 Lecture XIV.
Whether, however, the fear of the Lord
be the filial regard for his manifold mercies,
or the dread of his power and the vengeance
of his wrath, it still, when it gains possession
of the heart, is the beginning of true wisdom.
No progress can reasonably be expected to be
made in a life of piety, untU the mind is, by
some means, impressed with that devout awe,
that holy reverence, that serious regard for the
might and majesty of the most High God,
which intermingles itself, silently perhaps, and
unobtrusively, but still effectually and deeply,
with every action, and every thought: which
prompts an ejaculation of thanksgiving for
every mercy, as soon as it is received; and a
prayer for support, under every temptation.
Until the soul, whether in sorrow or in joy,
learns to regard the displeasure of the Al
mighty as the supreme object to be avoided,
his will as the standard, by which every action
is to be regulated.
In consequence of the supreme importance
of this fear of God, this beginning of wisdom,
in establishing a virtuous life, "The fear of
the Lord" is often in Scripture used to desig
nate the service which is peculiarly acceptable
to Him: as when David addresses himself
to the young, and promises to teach them

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 271
the fear of the Lord,h he evidently intends,
that he would instruct them in such a mode
of serving him as should be acceptable in
his sight, and conduce to their own salva
tion. The estimate then of inteUect, which is
made in Scripture, is founded upon the degree
of proficiency which every one has made in
religion. " The fear of the Lord is the begin
ning of wisdom ; a good understanding have
all they that do his commandments."
Now this is a proficiency, which the meanest
and most humble may attain, if he be careful
to use those means of grace, with which in
a Christian land he is blessed. No depth of
research, no brilliancy of imagination is required,
in order to learn those precepts, which are
essential to salvation. The grand truths and
precepts of our refigion are so plain that, to
comprehend them, are required no mental
endowments beyond the plain discernment of
right and wrong. But, unhappily, this fact
is often unobserved, or purposely removed
from sight. Our own estimate of intellectual
superiority, artificial arid improper as it is,
produces this evil consequence: that they,
who are unlearned in human science, are apt
to draw, from their acknowledged ignorance
h Psalm xxxiv. 11.

272 Lecture XIV.
of many things, an excuse for continuing
ignorant also of the plain duties required of
them. They believe, or affect to believe,
that there is something mysterious in the
doctrines and precepts of religion : that they
should be unable to comprehend the commands
of God, which are given in the Scriptures,
even if their attention were directed to them.
Now one inconsistency of such an opinion
is, that they who hold it often assume a right
of judging upon a point, at the same time that
they disclaim the capability of comprehending
it. If an iUiterate man had reason to believe
that, by a particular action, he would subject
himself to punishment, by any human law,
it is very conceivable that he might not possess
the ability to investigate for himself the true
nature of the case; or to comprehend the
abstract principles, which had influenced the
1
legislator in composing the law. But what,
upon this supposition, would be the conduct
of a prudent man? He would not, surely,
reason, that his inability to discover some
particulars, connected with the law, entitled
him to interpret the law, and to act upon
that interpretation. He would rather repair
to those, upon whose judgment he could
rely; and if their representation shewed him
plainly how he ought to act, in order to

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 273
avoid danger, he would be inexcusably pre
sumptuous, if he still persisted in his own
erroneous judgment. Equally unreasonable is
the conduct of those, who persuade themselves
to live as without God in the world, from
an apprehension that religious proficiency is
necessartty connected with literary attainments.
To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly
with God; to fear him, to love him, to put
our trust in him; and to look to his mercy,
through the merits of our Redeemer, for the
pardon of the faults, which we sincerely re
pent of, and earnestly desire to amend, is in
the power of every man, learned or unlearned.
And they who shelter their own disinclination
to obey religion, under the plea of inability
to understand it, wiU have a heavy account to
settle at the great day, when it shall be seen
who they are who have done according to
the commandments of God, and therefore have
had a good understanding. The unlearned and
the learned have each a talent given them
to employ : and upon their use of the means
which they enjoy, unaffected by the frivolous
excuses, with which they endeavour to hide
their neglect, wiU depend their acceptance or
reprobation. Their proficiency, besides, is not
to be estimated by any sudden impulse of
feeling, however powerful ; but by the practical
S

274 Lecture XIV.
effects upon their life and conduct. " The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good
understanding have all they that do his com
mandments." There is, especially, one important duty
which men are peculiarly apt to neglect, under
the plea of inability to comprehend it : I mean
the duty of commemorating the death of Christ,
by partaking of the sacrament which he or
dained. The command is express: the rite is
simple: yet thousands go on to their dying
hour, without ever complying with this positive
command : and endeavour all the time to deceive
others, and perhaps even do deceive themselves,
with alleging some imagined mysteriousness in
that holy sacrament. But be ye not so de
ceived — God is not mocked ; though man may
be. He will require obedience to his commands,
which are not grievous. And be asssured that
the plea of ignorance or of inability wUl avail
no one, who has the opportunities, which we
all enjoy, of instruction in the Christian faith.
But it is not only to the uneducated and
the simple, that the declaration is made, a good
understanding have all they that do the com
mandments of God. In the study of the works
and words of the Almighty, which is an essential
part of our duty, the most vigourous intellect
may find ample employment. In considering

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 275
the wonders of his creation, and the extent of his
holy attributes, the mind is conversant with
conceptions too mighty for unassisted reason
to comprehend. The unspeakable majesty, the
mysterious omnipresence, the overpowering
immensity, the inconceivable power of God,
the nature and offices of the three distinct
persons of the Godhead, the means of our
redemption, the hopes of future glory, are all
subjects of speculation which will employ and
satisfy the most comprehensive mind. It will
lead the enquirer to fall low on his knees before
the throne of the Most High ; and to shew
forth His praise in the actions of his life, as
well as in the words of his lips. Whether
he be wise, therefore, or whether he be simple,
the enquirer after religious truth may shew
forth the goodness of his understanding by
his obedience to the commands of God.
As however the estimate of intellectual
attainment, which is formed by the world at
large, is often widely different from that which
is found in the Scriptures of truth; so also
is the reward bestowed upon success incom
parably superior. Temporal advancement, the
gratification of vanity or ambition, the triumph
over emulous competitors, are found to be
inducements amply sufficient to pursuade those,
who are desirous of honourable distinction, to
S 2

276 Lecture XIV.
persevere through many difficulties and many
toUs. They, who strive for this mastery, will
often be temperate in all things, will forego
much pleasure, will rise early and late take
rest, to ensure the reward to which they aspire.
To repress this ardour, when legitimately
exercised, is not necessary; and, if necessary,
is scarcely to be expected. If however the
competition be so earnest to obtain a corruptible
crown, with what anxiety should the true
Christian strive for that which is incorruptible.
If praise, short-lived and precarious, often ill-
bestowed, often withheld, and always soon
forgotten, be an inducement of sufficient weight
to counterbalance much of the love of ease,
and much of the eagerness for the immediate
gratifications of sense — what should be the
ardour, with which they, who sincerely fear
God, should strive to follow his command
ments, knowing that " the praise of it endureth
for ever.1" This phrase, for ever, is easily
pronounced, and is so often used in ordinary
speech with great latitude, without sufficiently
attending to its import, that we are almost
apt to overlook its real meaning when found
in Scripture. And what is its meaning? It
implies a state, to which imagination itself
can ascribe no end — a series of ages succeeding
' The translation of the Old Bible is here adopted.

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 277
each other without the least approach to a
termination — a period, which after myriads of
centuries shall have rolled away, will be no
nearer to its conclusion than at this instant.
We may not clearly conceive how this can
be. But this we can conceive: that it is our
interest, beyond all which this world can offer
with all its pleasures and pomps, to seek to
ensure our happiness for this endless period.
How we may do so, we learn in God's holy
word, which we should therefore make the
guide of our conduct. Especially when tempted
to rely upon the pride of reason, or to be
wise in our own conceits, should we humble
ourselves with the reflection, that " The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom — a good
understanding have all they that do there
after" — and that the praise of it endureth for ever.
The duties, suggested by the subject which
we have been considering, acquire a pecu
liar importance in this place. All who are
called upon to direct the literary pursuits of
youth, must never lose sight of this important
fact, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of true wisdom, not only for the regulation of
their own conduct, but in their direction of the
pursuits of others. They must, in the course of
their arduous and useful labours, often be
compelled to direct much of their attention

278 Lecture XIV.
to the peculiar studiesi which are here pursued.
They must employ, perhaps, the greatest part
of their time, in superintending labours, which
are only indirectly connected with moral im
provement. Let them not forget, however,
that their labour is not to terminate in pro
moting a taste for the elegancies of literature,
in imparting an accurate knowledge of abstract
science, or in explaining the principles, by which
the wonderful phaaiomena of the natural world
are deduced from a few simple facts. All
these pursuits, and the labours which they
require, serve indeed to develope the faculties
of the mind, and may be made subservient
to the most noble purposes. But in the midst
of those mental labours which adorn the
imagination, or improve the reasoning powers,
let not those studies which lead to the know
ledge of the Most High be neglected. Upon
the degree of importance, which those in
authority here attach to the student's proficiency
in sacred literature, and especially to his moral
conduct, will depend, in a great measure, the
alacrity with which those studies will be pur
sued, and the general tone of feeling with
respect to religion. Let it not be said, that
while all other branches of literature and science
meet here with a full and impartial reward,
they, who endeavour to attain that knowledge

The Scriptural Estimate of Talent. 279
which is the most excellent of all, receive little
or uncertain encouragement.
To those who are themselves more par
ticularly engaged in the elementary studies
of the place, I would also address a few words
of exhortation. Those among you, who are competitors for
the distinction which accompanies successful
exertions, are striving with eagerness to obtain
the proposed reward. We would not dis
courage your honourable endeavours. Pursue
with diligence, and with treasonable anxiety,
the course, for which your whole education
has been training you. But forget not that
there is a wisdom, far greater than any which
is attained by the most successful effort of hu
man learning, a wisdom, which wUl always be
successfuUy sought by those who sincerely
endeavour to obtain it, and followed by a most
sure and glorious reward.
Neither let those, who think they are ex
empted, by their station in life, or a distrust
of their own powers, from the necessity of
making the same exertions in the pursuit of
human learning, deceive themselves with the
idea, that they may, without guilt, supinely
nefflect to attain the wisdom which is from
above. Let not the timid be discouraged in
its pursuit. All, who sincerely strive for that

280 Lecture XIV.
prize, shall assuredly obtain it, for they shall
be strengthened with such might in the inner
man, that they shall not in the end fail of
their reward. And if any of you should
ever be placed among those, who abuse the
abilities with which God has endowed them,
by misrepresenting the facts and doctrines of
revealed religion, or even — for such things have
been — by purposely employing their perverted
imagination in the practice and encouragement
of wilful profaneness, and in the open defence
of infidelity, take heed how ye hear. Remem
ber that by their fruits may the children of
disobedience be known : that the wisdom that
is from above is "first pure, then peace
able:"" and distrust that carnal mind, however
adorned with the brilliancy of fancy, and with
the speciousness of false reasoning, which is
pronounced, by infallible authority, to be
"enmity against God.1" The applause of a vain
world may be obtained by such unworthy and
wicked means. The abuse of talents may lead
to a degree of fame, and even to some kind
of eminence. But the fear of the Lord is
the only beginning of true wisdom : they only
have a good understanding who do his com
mandments : the praise of it is the only praise
which endureth for ever.
k James iii. 17. ' Rom. viii. 7.

LECTURE XV.
REFLECTIONS on the rainbow, as the sign
OF A COVENANT WITH NOAH.

Gen. IX. 14.
It shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud
over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in
the cloud.
It was an awful period in the history of man
kind, when the waters of the deluge subsided
from the face of the earth, and the patriarch
Noah came forth from the ark, and looked
round upon the ruins of a former world. How
changed must have been the aspect of nature.
Every object must have borne the appearance
of novelty, as if it had been just formed by
the hand of its Creator. Perhaps new mountains
had risen during the mighty convulsion, which
broke up the fountains of the great deep :
perhaps new rivers now ran in valleys, which

282 Lecture XV.
before had no existence. Even in those parts,
which had suffered a less violent alteration, an
awful change must have taken place ; a change
from fruitfulness to desolation, from animation
to stillness. The natural process of vegetation
was for a time suspended, and att living creatures
were destroyed upon the earth, except those
few, which had been saved by Divine command.
The patriarch must have looked, with thank
fulness shadowed with horror, upon the places,
where once stood cities thronged with popula
tion : where nations, perhaps, had flourished in
arts and arms : where luxury had by degrees
infected all society with her baneful influence,
until the whole earth was corrupt, and filled
with violence. Among those who had perished,
there might have been some, whom, as a
preacher of righteousness, he had earnestly
laboured to convert, and hoped to save. Some
for whom, with all their vices, he had felt great
interest, and much anxiety. And, even in the
midst of his thankfulness to God for the many
mercies of his own deliverance, he must have
experienced many feelingrof loneliness, when
he viewed around him nothing but the duU
traces of the retiring waters, and reflected that
he and his family were left the sole possessors of
a deluged world.
We read of the devotion with which he

Thd Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 283
sacrificed, as soon as he came out from the ark,
burnt-offerings of every clean beast and of every
clean fowl, upon the altar which he built unto
the Lord : and we know the blessing which God
then pronounced upon him.
But the fearful judgment, which he had
just witnessed, must have had a powerful in
fluence upon his mind. He could not soon
forget the terrors of that scene, when the
windows of heaven were opened, and the foun
tains of the great deep were broken up; and
the waters prevailed and were increased greatly
upon the earth, and att the high hills that were
under the whole heaven were covered.a Accus
tomed as we are to the regular return of the
seasons, which was then promised to mankind ;
seeing that seed-time and harvest, and cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night,
do not cease, we can hardly bring ourselves to
imagine the thoughts, which might not unnatu-
rally intrude themselves into the mind of the
patriarch, when he reflected upon the mighty
change, which he had witnessed in the most
stable elements of nature. He might, humanly
speaking, be excused, if he felt at times some
doubt even respecting the recurrence of the or
dinary phaenomena of the natural world : if he
sometimes feared, lest some second catastrophe
11 Gen. vii.

284 Lecture XV.
might overwhelm the earth, all the foundations
of which were so out of course. Especially when
the heavens became black with clouds and wind,
and there was a great rain, if he did not expect,
he might at least apprehend, that the Almighty
was a second time about to cut off all flesh with
the waters of a flood. As long as this influence
continued upon his mind — and it was of a nature
to last all his life, and to be transmitted to his
descendants for many generations — he might
look with a timid eye even upon the cloud,
which was dropping fatness upon the earth.
The time, in which the showers " drop upon
the pastures of the wilderness, and the little
hills rejoice on every side," — when " the pastures
are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are
covered over with corn : they shout for joy ;
they also sing"b — might to the patriarch be but
a season of doubt and dismay.
But the Father of goodness delights not in
the suffering of his creatures. He revealed
himself to Noah, with many assurances of sup
port, and many promises of blessing. And he
pointed out to him a sign in the heavens, im
mediately connected with the subject of his
apprehensions, to be a token of a covenant
between God and the earth, that he would not
any more bring a flood to destroy the earth.
b Psalm lxv. 12. 13.

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 285
" And God said, This is the token of the cove
nant which I make between me and you, and
every living creature that is with you, for per
petual generations. I do set my bow in the
cloud ; and it shall be for a token of a covenant
between me and the earth. And it shall come
to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and
I will remember my covenant which is between
me and you, and every living creature of all
flesh : and the waters shall no more become a
flood to destroy all flesh."
The selection of this peculiar symbol, as the
token of a covenant thus solemnly made between
God and man, has given rise, as might be ex
pected, to great diversity of opinion. That
vicious species of allegorical interpretation,
which distorts plain facts, has here been intro
duced. It would not easily be imagined that
the words of Scripture — " God said, I do set
my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token
of a covenant between me and the earth," —
could be taken to be any thing, but a plain
narration of a fact. At an early period, how
ever, of the Christian church, the words were
considered to represent only, under the figure
of a bow, the Divine providence, which is some
times extended, for the infliction of more severe
punishment, and sometimes relaxed, by the

286 Lecture XV.
loving kindness of God, who in his judgment
remembers mercy .c It is true that the mercy
of God is immediately suggested by the event.
But thus to explain away the literal meaning of
the sacred volume is to introduce a principle
of exposition totally at variance with sound
judgment. Other interpreters, both Jewish and Chris
tian, struck with the emphatic manner in which
the sign is pointed out?, have been of opinion
that until the deluge, the bow was never seen
in the cloud.d There is indeed nothing in the
brief account which is given of the antediluvian
world, to contradict this supposition. Some
time, undoubtedly, elapsed after the creation,
when God " had not caused it to rain upon the
c Non enim, sicut plerique arbitrantur, arcum istum dicit,
quem aiunt homines esse, quo pluviarum signa aliqua decla-
rentur, in quo colores diversi . . . figurantur  Sed absit ut
hunc arcum Dei dicamus  Ergo videamus, ne, quia arcus
quo sagittae jaciuntur, nunc tenditur, nunc resolvitur, quandam
extensionem et remissionem videatur scriptura significare, per
quam neque penitus per nimiam extensionem universa rum-
pantur, sed sit quaedam mensura et quoddam Divinae virtutis
examen. Est ergo virtus invisibilis Dei quae et specie istius
arciis extendendi et remittendi moderatur pro Divina volun-
tate, misericordia, potestate, quae neque omnia confundi nimia
solutione, neque dirumpi nimia irruptione patiatur. Quam
ideo in nubibus dicit poni, quia tunc maxime opus est Divinae
auxilio prudentiae, quando agmina nubium procellas tempes-
tatesque cogantur. Ambrosius Lib. de Area et Noe ; c 27-
apud Heidegger, de Hist. Sacra Exercitat. xix. §. 26.
Aben Ezra or Gen. ix. 14.

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 287
earth."6 And the termination of that time is
not distinctly marked. The first specific ac
count, which we read respecting the faU of rain,
is when " in the six hundredth year of Noah's
life, in the second month, the seventeenth day
of the month, the same day were all the foun
tains of the great deep broken up, and the
windows of heaven were opened." f It may be,
then, that the constitution of nature was, in
some material respects, changed at the deluge :
that, during the whole period before the flood,
the earth was watered continually in the same
manner as Eden was in the time of man's inno
cence, when " there went up a mist from the
Lord, and covered the whole face of the earth."8
Upon that supposition, no bow would be formed
in the cloud, from natural causes, until the hea
vens were once more cleared, after the waters of
the deluge had been poured out. And the
promise of the covenant would have been made,
at the time wheri the natural symbol was first
observed. Such a supposition, however, is unnecessary.
And the words of Scripture have by others'1
been considered to lead to quite a different con
clusion. They observe that the words in the
e Gen. ii. 6. f Gen. vii. 11. * Gen. ii. 7.
h Vatablus, Clavius, and the Notae majores in the Critici
Sacri.

288 Lecture XV.
original may properly be paraphrased, " I have
already long since set my bow in the cloud, and
henceforth it shall be for a token of a covenant
between me and the earth."
The question, however, is in reality a
question of mere curiosity. Whether the bow
were previously formed or not, it certainly was
then first pointed out, and specificaUy established,
as the sign of a covenant between God and man.
Its appearance had perhaps no natural connec
tion with an exemption from the danger of a
deluge. It was calculated to excite feelings of
astonishment ; as we find that among the most
civilized nations of heathen antiquity the Bain-
bow was personified as the daughter of Won
der;1 and that even among the half barbarous
Peruvians, when first discovered, divine honours
were paid to an object so splendid, and so
intimately related to the Sun, to whom their
superstitious reverence was principally directed.
The contemplation of this phEenomenon was
likely to inspire such sentiments as are
Kai eomeu o Ttjv "\piv Qavp.aTO<; sk^ovov tpqcra*: ou xaKio?
yeveaXoyew. Plato in Theaeteto. Uxdriov <pna\ euvf/MTcx: airn«
jeveaXoyijaai rovs dudprnirov^ 3iav to flai/^ao-ai -ravTrtv. Plu
tarch, de placitis Philos. in. 5. Ob earn causam, (Arcus)
quia speciem habeat admirabilem Thaumante dicitur esse
natus. Cicero de Nat. Deor. Lib. in. 20. See Heidegger, De
Historia Sacra Patriarcharum ; Exercitat. xix. §. 32. Park-
hurst's Heb. Lexicon, Art. rittfp-

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 289
eloquently expressed by the Son of Sirach :
" Look upon the rainbow, and praise him that
made it : very beautiful it is in the brightness
thereof It compasseth the heavens about with
a glorious circle: and the hands of the Most
High have bended it."k But to the patriarch
Noah, and to his descendants, to all who retained
even a traditionary remembrance of the fact,1
the bow in the cloud was to be something more
than an object of wonder. It was to be the
monument of past deliverance, and the pledge
of future safety. For whatever reason the
peculiar sign was originally chosen, the connect
tion between the sign and the deliverance was
established by the authority of God himself;
and was most appropriate. And after it was
appointed, with what joyful confidence must
the pious patriarch have turned his eyes towards
the lowering skies, which had been so much
dreaded, and beheld, in the midst of the dark
ness, gleams of celestial light gradually forming
themselves into the symbol of the covenant,
spanning and illuminating the thick cloud,
k Ecclus xliii. 11, 12.
1 It has been supposed, that Homer preserves some tradi
tionary notion, that the rainbow was appointed for a memorial,
in the words, "piaaiv eoiKoTfi, as -re Kpoviaiv
'Ei/ veipti cTijpi^e, rep as fiepowtav dvdpwiruiv. II. A. 27-
T

290 Lecture XV.
appearing to unite heaven with earth, a splendid
and significant emblem of the security which
it portended. Now the events effected by the immediate
appointment of the providence of God, and
written for our learning, are not isolated facts.
They are parts of one great scheme. And
there may be traced, in all the dealings of
the Almighty with mankind, a most striking
analogy, pointing out the same great Being
as the author of the creation, the ruler of the
universe, and also as the sovereign disposer of
the affairs of men. It may be useful to trace,
in a few instances, what may be called a general
principle — a similarity in the law by which
it has pleased God to act — and this general
principle is, the bringing of good out of the ob
ject of our fear, and consequently the association
of the remedy with the disorder : so that, when
the evil is suggested to the mind, the idea of
the accompanying relief may rise up in the
imagination at the same time.
1. The first instance, which shall be mention
ed, is the promise made to our first parents
immediately after the fall. Fatally deceived as
they had been by the wiles of their adversary,
and actuated by deep remorse and shame for
their guilt ; the sight of the serpent, which had
seduced them, would ever have brought back

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 291
to their recollection the state of innocence
which they had lost; and the sentence of
death which was suspended over them. But in
this their humbled state, it pleased the Lord to
promise them an ultimate deliverance. And the
terms in which the promise was conceived are
such, that, whenever they thought upon their
past sin, they must also think upon their future
delivery. " The Lord said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed
above all cattle, and above every beast of the
field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And
I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed. It shall
bruise thy head; and thou shalt bruise his
heel."m This was the first promise of that
Seed of the woman, who in the fulness of time
should, through death, "destroy him that had
the power of death : that is, the devil." " This
is not the time for entering into an enquiry,
how accurate might be the notion, which our
first parents formed, respecting "the man, the
Lord," ° who should thus be born. Our present
intention is only to observe how intimately
associated in the dispensations of God, and
his revelation to man, are the guilt and the
expiation. The same reflex act of the mind,
m Gen. iii. 14, 15. " Heb. ii. 14. ° Gen. iv. 1.
T2

292 Lecture XV.
which brought to fallen man the remembrance
of his sin, would also set before him the as
surance that the power of sin would be de
stroyed. 2. Another obvious instance of the same
nature is found, under the Gospel, dispensation,
in associating some of the most solemn acts
of our religion, and uniting some of our
most sure grounds of confidence, with the
remembrance of the death of Christ.
It is true that there may be found in
stances, in which the death of an individual
has been recorded by some specific institution:
but it has been when the circumstances of his
death were, perhaps, the most glorious among
a series of splendid atchievements ; when his
life has been sacrificed for the benefit of his
country, or distinguished by some peculiar
dignity. But when was it ever heard that any
one, whose whole life had offered so many
deeds worthy of celebration, selected, during
his life, his ignominious death, as the subject
of a commemorative ordinance?
A prophet, mighty in word and deed, it
might have been thought, would have directed
the minds of his disciples to his miracles-
would have been desirous to five in their me
mories, as commanding the waves of the sea
to be calm — curing diseases with a touch —

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 293
bidding the dead to rise — or invested with the
glories which he put on in the mount of trans
figuration, when his face did shine as the sun,
and his raiment was white as the light. But
Christ directed the minds of his disciples
throughout the world immediately to none of
these ; but to his death, his ignominious and
painful death.
This event, which would have terminated
the ministry of any other than a divine teacher,
Christ commanded us to perpetuate in our
memories by an ordinance for ever. And one
beneficial consequence, which his faithful fol
lowers may derive from that holy ordinance,
is this : that if ever they be tempted by their
great adversary, or by the wiles of deceitful
men, to think of that humiliation in any other
view than as the crowning mercy which re
conciled man to God — to be ashamed of Christ
crucified — they may remember, that this very
death was the great end of Christ's ministry
upon earth : the object of so many prophecies ;
of such numerous prefigurations ; of such a
wonderful series of providential events. That
they may remember also, that the resurrection
of Christ followed his death; that his ascen
sion speedily succeeded his resurrection; and
that his coming again in glory will as assuredly
follow his ascension.

294 Lecture XV.
With us, indeed, this association of the
death of Christ upon the cross with aU our
hopes is so complete, that we can scarcely,
even in imagination, place ourselves in the
situation of the immediate followers of Christ.
The death of our Lord has been so haUowed,
its very instrument has been invested with
such holiness, the cross has been so long the
symbol of a prevatting faith, has been so long
"drawn upon foreheads, carried upon banners,
put upon crowns imperial,"p that we now re
gard it, almost instinctively, with feelings of
the utmost veneration. But with the disciples
of Christ it was far otherwise. The death of
their Lord would be considered as the extinc
tion of their hopes : his death upon the cross
would be regarded as an indignity, which
numbered him, not only with the transgressors,
but with the most degraded of the human
race. To them it was important, both as a
consolation and as an encouragement, that the
event, which cut off aU their expectations of
earthly advantages, should be connected im
mediately with the spiritual blessings which
were thereby secured. Accordingly, in the
Gospel dispensation, and especially in the in
stitution of the Eucharist, the doctrine of Christ
crucified, which was to the Jews a stumbling-
r Jer. Taylor's Sermon on the Funeral of Archbp. Bramhall.

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 295
block, and to the Greeks foolishness, was di
rectly associated with his prophetic character,
and with his triumphant victory over the power
of death. Henceforth, whenever the disciples
of Christ reflected upon his death, they would
remember, that Christ had told them before
it came to pass. All their hopes of glory
were thus connected with an event, which
they had before contemplated with the utmost
dismay. The rebuke which the apostle Peter
addressed even to Jesus, who had just pre
dicted his own death — "Be it far from thee,
Lord, this shall not be unto thee" q — was changed
into the triumphant exultation of St. Paul,
"It is Christ that died; yea, rather that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us."r
3. There are other events, in the course of
God's providence, in which, objects in them
selves regarded with terror, are either associated
with alleviating circumstances, or made the
very means of conveying benefits of the most
important nature. All men are naturally averse
from affliction, and they, who are unenlight
ened by revelation, have ever regarded adversity
as an evil, which the wise would endeavour
to bear with patience, because it is irremedi
able, but still an evil of great magnitude.
i Matt. xvi. 22. r Rom. viii. 34.

296 Lecture XV.
Revelation teaches us to regard it in a very
different light. It affords consolation peculiar
to itself, and points out most important be-
nefits derived from affliction. The state of
man in this life is still a state of suffering;
but the very suffering is shewn to be part of
a dispensation of mercy. Upon all men, at
some period of their lives, there lours some
thick cloud, to which their apprehensions may
often direct a fearful eye. Calamities, over
which they have no control, may thicken around
them. Their riches may make to themselves
wings and flee away : their friends may for
sake them: their health may fail. They may
feel tempted almost to distrust the possibility
of being supported through the distress, under
which they labour. With dispositions not un
like that which the patriarch Noah might en
tertain, before he was assured that the flood
should no more overwhelm the earth, they
may have feared, in the despondency of their
hearts, that God had forgotten to be gracious,
and had shut up his loving-kindness in dis
pleasure. But " unto the upright there ariseth
light in the darkness."5 The word of God,
rich in instruction adapted to all circumstances,
offers peculiar assistance to those who seek from
it comfort under affliction.
5 Rsalm cxii. 4.

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 297
It was a fanciful opinion of some of the
Jewish expounders of their law, that when
the high priest enquired of God by Urim and
Thummim, he fixed his eyes upon the mag
nificent breast-plate of judgment, upon which
were set " stones with the names of the chil
dren of Israel, according to their names, like
the engravings of a signet;"1 and that the
reply to his enquiries was given by a lambent
splendour, illuminating those characters which,
when united, formed an answer to the question
proposed. To the Christian this notion is in
some measure realized. Let the afflicted soul
repair to the living oracles of God's word, and
he will there find an answer to all the difficul
ties, which to the natural man are inexplicable.
When he opens the written volume, in which
are inscribed the words of life, his eye will
rest upon assurances such as these. " In the
multitude of the sorrows that I have in my
heart, thy comforts have refreshed my soul."u
" When thou passest through the waters, I will
be with thee; and through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee  For I am the Lord
thy God, the holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." x
Above all, he will see, inscribed in characters
4 Exod. xxviii. 15, 21.
u Psalm xeiv. 19- version of the Great Bible.
x Isaiah xliii. 2, 3.

298 Lecture XV.
so plain, that he may run which readeth them,
the comfortable words of Christ, "Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest." y " Blessed are they
that mourn; for they shall be comforted."'
Man is sometimes tried with afflictions of
more than ordinary severity. His whole mind
may have been occupied in some favourite pur
suit, or centered in some beloved object. He may
be a parent, anxious, for his child : a child, as
solicitous for his parent. He may be connected
by ties of friendship, as close as those which
united Jonathan and David. In any of these
cases, he may have formed in his imagination
many fond visions of future happiness, and
animated an ideal world with hopes which never
are to be realized. In the midst of his secu
rity, a mighty flood may come down and sweep
away all that in which he so delights. Time
passes on : and he comes forth from his house
of mourning, as the patriarch Noah went out
upon the earth, from which the waters had
just subsided. He finds all things changed.
The whole world presents to him a blank:
void of any associations, which could confer
pleasure, or satisfaction : and all the interest
which he once took in the pursuits of the
world is vanished. Whither, then, should such
1 .Matt. xi. 2S. ' Matt. v. 4.

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 299
a man turn, but to the "faithful witness in
heaven," a that covenant of mercy which was
made between God and man : that covenant
which, while it teaches the sufferer in aU hu
mifity to acknowledge that it was good for
him to be afflicted, bids him look beyond this
transitory state for an abiding city; and holds
forth the consoling hope of being re-united
in a better world, and in a happier state, to
those who, while on earth, were most beloved,
and most dear.
In these, then, and in numerous other in
stances, when God brings " a cloud upon the
earth," when he tries his people by a partial
removal of the light of his favour, he stUl sets
his "bow in the cloud," he gives a token of
the covenant which he has made, and a symbol
that in his anger he has thought upon mercy.
Even in that last trying hour, when the
thick shadows of approaching death are gather
ing around the Christian, when the light of
his earthly life grows stiU fainter and fainter,
and his soul is even disquieted within him:
when deep caUeth unto deep at the noise of
the water-spouts, and all the waves and billows
are gone over him;b the light of God's holy
word will still penetrate the darkness of his
soul, and display to the eye of faith the cove-
- Psalm lxxxix. 38. b Psalm xlii. 7-

300 Lecture XV.
nant of His grace. He will receive comfort
in the midst of his sorrows, and be enabled
to exclaim with faith, " Why art thou cast
down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted
within me? Hope in God, for I shaU yet
praise him, who is the health of my counte
nance and my God." c
We may, in conclusion, refer to still more
glorious scenes, displayed in the book of life,
and partially connected with the subject before
us. Whenever we behold the " bow in the
cloud," we must remember that it is not only
a memorial of the covenant which God made
with Noah, but an imperfect representation of
some of that splendour, which is described in
Scripture as surrounding the Divine presence.
Ezekiel, in relating the first vision which he
beheld, declares these words : " I saw as it were
the appearance of fire, and it had brightness
round about. As the appearance of the bow
that is in the cloud, in the day of rain, so
was the appearance of the brightness round
about. This was the appearance of the like
ness of the glory of the Lord."d St. John
also, the beloved Apostle, "was in the Spirit,
and behold a throne was set in heaven, and
one sat on the throne : and he that sat was to
look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone ;
c Psalm xlii. 11. d Ezek. i. 27, 28.

The Rainbow the Sign of a Covenant. 301
and there was a rainbow round about the throne,
in sight like unto an emerald."6 And when
the " mighty angel came down from heaven,"
and "lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware
by him that liveth for ever and ever, who
created heaven and the things that therein are,
and the earth and the things that therein are,
and the sea and the things which are therein,
that there should be time no longer" — he also
was " clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was
upon his head."f
These things, we know, are not to be scru
tinized with unhallowed curiosity. They may
be only imperfect figures of what shall be
hereafter revealed ; purposely adapted to give
us some faint conception of the glories of Him
whom no man hath seen nor can see. But
still they are written in the book of God;
and written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope. May we have grace to regard
them aright. May we be enabled, when the
clouds and darkness of this lower world shall
be removed, to enter into that celestial city,
which has "no need of the sun, neither of
the moon to shine in it ; for the glory of God
doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light
thereof." g
' Rev. iv. 2, 3. f Rev. x. 1, 6. e Rev. xxi. 23.

LECTURE XVI.

ON THE LOVE OF LIFE.

Job II. 4.
All that a man hath will he give for his life.
Of aU the feelings and passions, which occur
so continually as deservedly to be styled natural,
the love of life is the most general, the most
deeply rooted, and the most ardent. As soon
as existence is felt, in the earliest dawn of
infancy, nature shrinks with instinctive horror
from any thing which may threaten its de
struction. As we advance in age, reason and
reflection serve but to strengthen this native
impulse. The acuteness of pain and the feeble
ness of disease are regarded with aversion, not
merely from the present uneasiness which they
occasion, but, still more, from the termination,
to which we apprehend they may lead. Bodily
diseases, indeed, appear to be classed, in ge
neral estimation, and probably from this cause,

On the Love of Life. 303
according to the degree of hazard which they
bring to life, and not according to the degree
of suffering by which they are characterized.
Some disorders, painful and wearisome in the
extreme, if they are not borne with patience
by the sufferer, are at any rate regarded with
much indifference by the observer, if not at
tended with immediate danger. WhUst others,
graduaUy and almost insensibly wearing away
the strength, deservedly excite the most earnest
commiseration, not so much from the actual
suffering, as from the anticipated result. , The
advance of years, and the necessary approach
of death, add but little to the fortitude with
which it naturally is contemplated. Grievous
as are many of the infirmities to which old
age is exposed, they do not necessarily abate
the love of life. The young may imagine
that existence would be insupportable, if bur
dened with the" pains of age : yet the old
themselves still continue to cling with perti
nacity to the remains of life, even after all,
that appears in the eyes of others to render
existence desirable, has long ceased.
Proportioned to our love of life, is the
earnestness with which we invariably endeavour
to preserve it. There is no labour, however
burdensome, no privation, however irksome,
but for this end it is cheerfully endured. The

304 Lecture XVI.
close of life is, by the natural man, removed
as long as possible from sight. The heart may
sicken at the long delay of hope: but some
faint remains still mingle with the bitter cup,
which suffering humanity is often compelled
to drain. Sooner than give way to absolute
despair, every practicable effort will be made:
" all that a man hath will he give for his life."
Now, there is something in this universal
love of life, which appears to distinguish it
essentially from all the other feelings which
we experience. All our instincts, and passions,
and desires, although when abused they may,
and do, lead to great irregularity and great
misery, yet may be so regulated as to produce
much real good. They are implanted in us
in order to be employed, not to be inconsi
derately indulged: and they are of such a
nature, that they can be legitimately gratified.
Hunger and thirst may lead to gluttony and
drunkenness; but the natural appetite is then
perverted from its original intention. The
affection of a parent towards the child may
degenerate into culpable weakness : but it is
only by the fondness of parental love that the
helplessness of infancy could be preserved.
The same thing is true of these moral pro
pensities, as of the mechanical contrivances of
our frame. Every thing was at first prepared

On the Love of Life. 305
for a peculiar purpose: and if any inconve
nience is experienced, if any thing goes wrong,
we may be sure that it arises, either from
improper use, or from natural decay, and not
from any inherent defect in the design. No
thing is made on purpose to cause inconve-=
nience or pain; no desire implanted which
must necessartty and continually be frustrated.
But the strongest of all passions, the love
of life, appears in some degree to form an
exception to this general rule of beneficent
design. Much good, no doubt, arises from it
during life : for by its operation individuals are
preserved from danger, and from destruction,
But still, as long as the sentence, " it is ap
pointed unto att men once to die," is suspended
over the human race, so long is the love of
life an instinctive feeling which, at the very
time we experience it, we know must sooner
or later be violated. — There is also something
very peculiar in the dread of death in man.
In the animal creation, it is true, instinct is
especially active in the preservation of life,
and in guarding from any thing which may
endanger it. But this instinct performs its
natural office, and no more. It does not become,
what it very frequently is in man, a source
of fearful apprehension of future evil. Death
comes upon the beasts of the field unexpectedly,
U

306 Lecture XVI.
and therefore deprived of half its terrors. It
overtakes man, if he has hope only in this
life, long feared, and long anticipated; over
powering all his efforts, opposing all his desires.
Now, compare this necessity of submitting
to so dreaded an enemy, with the usual course
of God's merciful providence.
Pain is allowed to be a great corporeal
evil : and, with the exception of some peculiar
cases, in which the final cause is explained by
reason, and by revelation, it may usually be
traced to the derangement, or decay, of some
part of our bodtty frame. But suppose, that,
upon the inspection of some animated frame,
we detected an elaborate contrivance for the
production of excruciating pain, should we not
conclude that this arose from some evU source;
that this exception to aU the other works of
creation was not the original production of
that all-good and aU-wise Being, by whom we
have been so fearfuUy and wonderfully made ?
Or, again, if in the very midst of a machine,
which we knew had been once successfuUy
contrived for long continued motion, we ob
served, upon a closer inspection, a series of
preconcerted devices, by the action of which
that motion must, after a certain short period,
inevitably cease, should we not be certain that
these had been introduced by some foreign

On the Love of Life. 307
agent, or at least were deviations from the
original design ?
SimUar to this anomaly — only greater in
degree, in proportion as man is greater than
the works of man, and the dread of dissolution
than our aversion from uneasiness, — is the in
tense apprehension of death inherent in a being,
to whom death is inevitable. It is a self-acting
torture, in. the midst of a world of benevolent
contrivances. In vain would we flee from this
end of all men. We may for a time remove
from our thoughts the apprehension of our
end: we may scheme, and contrive, and com
plain, and resist : all that a man hath may he
give for his life; but still there is working
unseen within us the sure process of continual
decay : the fatal arrow stiU lingers in our side.
Surely, then, here is a manifest exception
to the usual analogy of nature. WhUe all
our other desires are implanted in us in order
to be gratified, this, the most powerful of all,
appears designed to be counteracted. The eye
is so formed as to delight itself in vision:
and is surrounded by every thing which is
pleasant to the sight; gratified with splendid
objects in the heavens above; charmed with
a profusion of colours, and refreshed with ver
dure, upon the earth beneath. The ear is
, made to receive the impulse of various sounds :
u 2

308 Lecture XVI.
and a medium is provided to transmit and
modulate them, and articulate organs of speech
to give them utterance. Yet the only creature
endued with reason and forethought, although
possessing bodily senses aU capable of gratifi
cation, and surrounded by living objects each
fitted for its pursuits and pleasures, is still a
being destined to a fate which he abhors, a
mortal longing after immortality.
Surely an enemy has done this. The bene
ficent Being, who has given us all things
so richly to enjoy, would not have created
man so imperfectly adapted to the circum
stances of his existence; so anxious to five,
so doomed to die. Surely some change must
have taken place in our nature. Some ex
traneous agent must have brought death into
the world with all our woes.
Turn to the word of God, and you will
see who that agent was, and what were the
means by which his designs were effected.
You will see our first parents created immortal,
and innocent, and perfect : placed by the hand
of God in Eden, as responsible creatures, sub
ject indeed to temptation, but free to resist
or to comply. You will see, with sorrow and
with shame, sin enter into the world, and
death by sin : and the awful penalty of mor
tality passed upon every soul of man, from
that fatal hour to this.

On the Love of Life. 309
This revelation is confirmed, if confirmation
were necessary, by a feeling which pervades
every heart. As often as we shrink from the
contemplation of the end of all men, we give
testimony to the fearful alteration which has
been brought upon our nature : every time
we shudder at the thought of death, we assert
the truth of those doctrines, which we have
been taught, in Scripture, to believe.
2. But the love of life is also an earnest
of immortality. If our heavenly Father has
formed nothing in vain, and yet has allowed
us to retain the pleasing hope of an hereafter,
it is probable, at the least, arguing from
analogy, that he intends it, in some mode or
other, to be gratified. That it will be gratified
is, indeed, a conclusion which we could never
draw with certainty from reason alone. We
might feel an inward horror at annihilation :
but we could never know that our existence
wiU be continued, after this state shall have
passed away. We might be of att men most
miserable : but we could never have a firm
expectation beyond this life, except the word
of God had commanded us to entertain it.
But from that word we are assured, and one
assurance alone would be sufficient, that "as
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive."1 1 1 Cor. xv. 22.

310 Lecture XVI.
A stedfast faith in these assurances of God,
and a humble trust in the mercy, which he
promises to all who seek him with a reliance
on his grace to assist their weak endeavours, are
the only means, by which we can conquer that
dread of death, which to the natural man is so
diffichlt to understand, and so grievous to
endure. And how effectual such a support is,
evek under circumstances the most arduous,
Hrahy of us must have been taught, and we
may hope with real benefit, by the most forcible
of all instructors, example.
We may many of us have seen in others,
what it should be our greatest endeavour our
selves to attain, that resignation to the wiU of
heaven, at the close of fife, which it is the
peculiar privilege of true Christianity to con
fer. We may have marked with admiration,
in the sufferings of those who were once dear
to us, the natural dread of death gradually
giving way to the spiritual hope of everlasting
life. We may have known a mind, once active
in conceiving and executing the schemes of
ambition or of pleasure, brought down to see
the nothingness of its previous pursuits, and to
feel the overwhelming importance of those
which belong to its eternal peace. We may
have watched the interests, and passions, and
affections of this world ceasing by degrees to

On the Love of Life. Sll
engross the attention ; and the eternal world of
spirits opening more and more clearly to the
mental eye. We may have found the sense of
their weakness adding strength to their faith,
and seriousness to their repentance; and the
inner man continuaUy the more supported by
the Spirit of God, as the tabernacle of the flesh
approached more nearly to its dissolution. We
may perhaps have witnessed, what to a favoured
few has undoubtedly been vouchsafed, in their
last trying hour, that inexpressibly calm, and
serene, and heavenly frame of mind, the imper
fect foretaste of future happiness.
If we have witnessed this, how earnest
should we be to foUow the example of those
who have departed this life in the faith and fear
of God, before the evU days come, and the years
draw nigh when we shall say, There is no
pleasure in them.
Sooner or later, we must att think on these
things, much and seriously. A man may live
without religion : for the sense of religion may
be choked by the cares, or business, or pleasures
of the world, and for a time appear as if it
existed not : but without religion a man cannot
die: unless, indeed, he die that cheerless and
hopeless death, which is of all evtts the most to
be dreaded and deprecated. The examples,
which we may have seen, will indeed have been

312 Lecture XVI.
seen in vain, if they produce in us no serious
thought, no repentance, no amendment.
Many have praised and envied the death
of the righteous; and prayed earnestly that
their last end might be like his. But they
should remember, that such a death is the pri
vilege of those only, who by patient continu
ance in weU doing have sought for glory, and
honour, and immortality. Many have witnessed
the death of the unrighteous ; but it has been
with feelings of horror too dreadful to be ex
pressed. For who shall justly describe those
sensations, with which the inevitable approach
of death is accompanied to that man, who has
made no preparation for his latter end, feels no
hope for his eternal state — who reviews, with
the agony of a guilty conscience, crimes unre-
pented, and a life mispent; or, in the sullen
calmness of despair, looks backward without
consolation, and forward without hope. To
him, who in this life only has his hope, the
approach of death is dreadful indeed. Antici
pating a fate which must arrive, however
repugnant ; struggling against an enemy whose
power is too great to be long resisted, although
his dominion is so dreaded, "all that" such "a man
hath will he give for his life." But as life must
terminate, and at no distant period, miserable
above that of all others must his existence be.

On the Love of Life. 313
Let it be our earnest and constant prayer to
God, that we may att be preserved from a state
so truly terrible.
3. There is yet another lesson, which we may
learn from our love of life ; and that a lesson of
the greatest importance. If we are so anxious
for a life, which all allow to be, in a greater
or less degree, a life of suffering, and disappoint
ment, what ought to be our aspirations after
a life of perfect enjoyment. If we so labour
for a life which perishes, how ought we to
strive, for that which shall endure for ever.
We all confess that in this world we have
tribulation. Sooner or later we all experience this
in ourselves : and we continually witness it in
those around us. Many indeed are the blessings,
which the goodness of the Almighty has pro
vided for us, even in this transitory state of
existence. Yet the reflection will sometimes
intrude, All these things have an end* And
how soon that end may come, no one can say.
No man can promise to himself one day of
perfect happiness. The termination of all that
in which he delights must, soon arrive; even
if he live long and see not the grave. Friends
forsake, riches vanish, health fatts. Enjoyment
long expected terminates in disappointment:
anticipated pleasure is exchanged for pain. Yet
with all this alloy in existence, which every

314 Lecture XVI.
one acknowledges, how do we cling to life, as to
our greatest blessing. Although we know our
days are uncertain, and our joys precarious, this
transitory state, and these fleeting pleasures
occupy by far the greatest portion of our anx
iety : " all that a man hath wiU he" stUl " give
for his life,"
But how different is that life, which we aU
profess to look for, beyond the grave. We aU,
in our daily service, express that we believe the
life everlasting: and of that life what are the
particulars, which God hath revealed for our
instruction and encouragement. Those things,
which are eternal, are indeed not seen, and,
because they are not seen, perhaps make a less
forcible impression on our minds, than they
ought to do. But although not yet seen with
our natural eye, we know that they wiU one day
be both seen and felt ; and they may even now
be spirituaUy discerned by the eye of faith.
Of that life, which God hath prepared for those
who love him, we can only speak with reve
rence and awe : for we know only in part, and
therefore can describe only in part. The joys
of heaven no man could explain : for he, who
was once caught up thither, heard but unspeak
able words, which it is not lawful for a man to
utter.b But that those joys shall infinitely
b 2 Cor. xii. 4.

On the Love of Life. 315
surpass any which we can know or conceive
upon earth, the word of God himself declares :
" as it is written : Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him."0
For a fife like this, perfect in enjoyment,
and infinite in duration, what care could be too
great, what anxiety too intense? Who should
for a moment hesitate to sacrifice all he had,
and all he hoped to possess, in order to secure so
valuable an existence? Yet, unworthy as the
price required is, many do hesitate ; and many
wUl sacrifice nothing.
" AU that a man hath will he give for his
life," upon earth; he wiU compass sea and land
to procure medicine to heal his sickness; he
wiU chearfully forego his luxuries, and submit
to privations, and pain ; merely to prolong, for
a few short years, this anxious and precarious
existence. But for a life of endless ages, in
which sin and sorrow and death shall no more
be found, how will he hesitate, before he witt
sacrifice one darling propensity, one sin that
doth so easUy beset him.
This conduct is irrational enough in itself:
but incomparably more irrational, when con
sidered with regard to its final consequences.
* 1 Cor. ii. 9.

316 Lecture XVI.
If a man neglect to preserve his present
life, the alternative is death. And the afflicted
soul, in the bitterness of its anguish, may some
times look to this as an escape devoutly to be
wished. He may desire to accomplish, as an
hireling, his day ; and regard the grave as that
final abode, "where the wicked cease from
troubling, and the weary are at rest."d
But if a man neglect to secure the life
eternal, the dreadful alternative is eternal death.
There is no middle state of ambiguous exist
ence — no endless sleep — no eternal suspence
between enjoyment and anguish. Revelation,
and it is revelation alone that can inform us on
a point so momentous, holds out to us only
heaven and heU: a state more joyful than tongue
can describe, or heart conceive ; and that horrible
state, from which even hope is banished, " where
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.'" We would not needlessly terrify the fearful,
nor depress the dejected mind ; we would not
represent our religion as a pale, into which men
are to be compelled to come ; but, knowing
the terrors of the Lord we would persuade men
to consider, while it is yet time, the errors of
their ways, and repent, and live.
If we are desirous to prolong our life, here
d Job iii. 17- « Mark ix. 44.

On the Love of Life. 317
is an object worthy of all our anxiety : a certain
reward for our most earnest care. He that
labours only to preserve this life, labours to
" sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind." f He
spends his money for that which is not bread,
and his labour for that which satisfieth not.g
His toUs are wearisome, and continued ; and all
must ultimately faU. He that labours for the
life to come, labours for a reward equaUy cer
tain and valuable. Let him love that fife — it is
life eternal — let him give all that he hath for
it — he gives it as a ransom for his soul.
' Hos. viii. 7- * Isaiah lv. 8.

LECTURE XVII.
THE NECESSITY OF BEING DOERS OF THE WORD,
AND NOT HEARERS ONLY.

James I. 22—25.
Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves. For if any be a
hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like
unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass,
for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and
straightway forgetteth what manner of man he
was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man
is blessed in his deed.
It has ever been a common error to rest
contented with a nominal profession of faith,
while the actions are little, if at aU, controlled
by the principles which are maintained. To
say we believe is so easy, often so profitable,
that many readily assent without duly consi-

Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers only. 319
dering what they do. And many more deceive
themselves with the idea that they really possess
religious qualifications, of which they are found
to be utterly destitute, whenever an occasion
arises which puts their principles to the test.
There are few parts of Holy Scripture more
directly levelled against errors of this nature,
than the Epistle of St. James. It was com
posed for the purpose of correcting the abuses,
which, even at that early period of the Church,
had arisen among Christians : and sets forth,
in the clearest manner, the necessity of ex
hibiting the reality of faith by its practical
effects. The passage just recited contains one of
those precepts, enforced with great energy, and
Ulustrated with peculiar clearness. As this
illustration is perhaps less obvious, in the au
thorized version of the Bible, in consequence
of a word/ introduced in one part of it, it
may be desirable to notice the whole passage,
and observe the nature of the comparison,
which the Apostle draws.
The Apostle begins with the plain precept,
" Be ye doers of the word," displaying in your
lives the fruit of the faith which you have
in your hearts, " and not hearers only, deceiving
your own selves." He then proceeds to illus
trate the use which should be made of the

320 Lecture XVII.
Holy Scriptures, by an image at once familiar
and expressive. He compares the word of
God to a perfect mirror, in which, if any man
looks, he may discern the exact lineaments of
his mind, without exaggeration or distortion.
But then the use, which may be made of this
instruction, wiU vary with the dttigence of each
individual to avail himself of the advantages
thus afforded him. If he examine himself
carelessly and casuatty, without waiting to study
his real character, the benefits which he obtains
will be as fruitless as they are transitory. But
if he continue to study diligently what are
the precise defects of his character, he wiU
derive from the study the benefits which it
is calculated to produce.
The unhappy state of the heedless and for
getful hearer is thus represented. " For if any
be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he
is like unto a man beholding his natural face in
a glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his
way; and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was."
The second manner of looking into the
Scriptures, that in which the word of God
ought to be used, is represented in the verse
immediately succeeding. But the contrast be
tween the two passages is rendered less obvious
by the introduction of the word therein, which

Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers only. 321
* * * is printed in our Bibles in a different character,
to intimate that the expression does not occur
in the original: and the connection with the
context would be more clear if the word were
omitted. The term which is rendered " looketh
to,"a is in another passage rendered, "to look
into;"b and signifies properly, "stooping down'
so as to study attentively." It is, in fact, the
very same term used by two of the evangelists,
when they describe the disciples as " stooping
down" to look into the sepulchre whence Christ
had risen:" and the term "continueth" appears
to indicate the stedfast and constant attention
which is requisite, in order rightly to appre
ciate the benefits which are to be derived from
the Scriptures, that perfect law of liberty, re
vealed to mankind, which has made all true
believers " free from the law of sin and death ;" d
for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty."6 The whole passage, therefore, will appear
more clearly to agree* with the context, if it
be paraphrased somewhat in this manner:
"But whoso looketh attentively into the per
fect law of liberty, and remaineth by it, and
continueth to look, he being not a hearer of
* irapaKv\f/a<: els—. 1 "&• >• 12,
c Luke xxiv. 12. John xx. 5.
d Rom. viii. 2. e 2 Cor. iii. 7-

322 Lecture XVII.
forgetfulness, but a doer of the work, this man
shall be blessed in his deed." f
The contrast between the mere hearer and
the doer of the word is thus evidently shewn.
Before the eyes of both is held up, as a mirror,
a perfect law of liberty ; a law without defect
in itself, and directing those who study it to
a model of perfection, which elsewhere they
eould never discover : a law, which makes
those, who obey it, free in the strictest sense,
free from the slavery of sin, and the bonds,
which evil passions and evil habits impose.
They, who look upon this mirror imperfectly
and casually, derive from it no permanent
benefit. For a time they see what manner
of men they are : but they go away, and
straightway forget the salutary knowledge
which they had thus momentarily attained.
The effect is as transient as the image upon
the polished surface of the mirror; and, like
that image, is instantly effaced when a new
objected is presented. Still the fault rests only
with the observer. Whoso stoopeth down, and
studieth earnestly the lineaments thus displayed
before his eyes; whoso knoweth what manner of
man he is, and continueth to look, he being not
6 ce irapaKV\jsas els vdfiov Te\eiov i-6v Trjs i\ev6eplas,
koi -rrapaneivas, ovtos ouk axpoaTris ewiXria-fiov^s yet/ofievot,
aAAa 7roitjTr;s epyov, ovtos fiandpios ev T17 itoitja-et aC-rov earai.

Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers only. 323
a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, that
man shall be blessed in his deed. The influence
of his conviction will be shewn in the change
which is gradually wrought in his life and
conversation. He will attain, what has been
always considered a great step towards a vir
tuous life, a knowledge of himself: and by
the grace of God wiU endeavour to repent,
and to amend that which he is conscious has
been done amiss.
The unerring word of truth then, intimates,
that those, to whom the perfect law of Uberty
is revealed, are divided by a broad line of
distinction into two very different classes. In
one of these is found the forgetful hearer,
in the other the doer of the word. And it
is a question of a very important nature, in
which of these two classes each of us is found.
It requires no long research to discover
some who are only hearers of the word, and
not doers. In every society there are many,
who frequent the ordinary services of religion,
perhaps read the Scriptures occasionally, and
employ other means which should promote
their growth in grace, and yet fail lamentably
in not reducing into practice the duties which
religion demands.— - There are many others,
who can scarcely be said to be even hearers
of the word. They nominally profess the
x2

324 Lecture XVII.
Christian faith, but seldom attend the place
appointed for the public worship of God; and
never join in those1 solemn acts of Christian
feUowship, which our Lord, almost in his dying
words, enjoined upon all who would shew
forth the Lord's death until he come. There
is still one further gradation of irreligion, that
of a man, who has openly thrown off all re
straint, and pursues his course of a vicious
life, without regard either to his real present
interest or to his final salvation.
Now, all these fall under the first general
class of hearers of the word, and not doers,
deceiving their own selves. Even they who
refuse to listen to the voice of religion, must
not delude themselves with the idea that, be
cause they wiU not hear, they are therefore
without guilt. Baptized in the Christian name,
educated in the Christian faith, living in a
Christian land, able to learn that perfect law
of liberty, to direct their eyes to that bright
mirror which wiU reflect the true image of
the soul, if they refuse to look, upon their
own heads will fall the punishment of their
sin. Whether they will hear, or whether they
wUl forbear, the voice of God has spoken, and
still speaks, by his word revealed in the Scrip
tures. And he who hears not at all, as wett
as he who hears, but heeds not, will be left

Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers only. 325
without excuse when the great question shall
finally be resolved.
There are, however, other hearers of the
word, of whom better things may be hoped:
they who look into the perfect law of liberty,
and continue to study it, and consequently
are blessed in their deeds.
The outward actions of a man afford, indeed,
but an imperfect measure of his inward prin
ciples ; because no man can penetrate into
the recesses of his neighbour's heart, and there
discern the motives by which the actions are
modified, and from which they take their tone
and colour. A regard for the opinion of the
world, the advantages which even in this
Ufe attend at least a decent regard for the
greater moral duties, may produce an apparent
conformity with the precepts of religion, while
truly religious motives are utterly wanting.
But the difference, between the religious and
the irreligious character, will principally be seen
in this. The doer of the word has constantly
before him the precepts of the Scriptures, and
the reasons of his obedience. He may often
fail in his duty — he may often lament the
exceeding difficulty of obedience ; the imper
fection of his very best actions ; the undue
motives which mix themselves up with the
very duties of life. But then he is not a

326 Lecture XVII.
forgetful hearer. He continues to look earnestly
and closely into the perfect law of liberty —
he confesses, with David, what love he has
to the law of God, that all the day long is
his study in it. He does not lose sight of
the image reflected from the mirror of truth;
but regulates himself by the instruction which
he thence obtains.
The first principal benefit, which he may
expect thus to derive, is the knowledge of
himself. So deceitful, as well as wicked, is
the heart of man, that to obtain this know
ledge is most difficult. True self-knowledge is
that which, without a figure, came down from
heaven. As long as men measure themselves
by themselves, and compare themselves among
themselves/ they cannot reasonably expect to
be wise. But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty, has placed before his eyes the
mirror of unerring truth. Every feature of
his mind is displayed in its proper proportions.
And if he continue to look, he witt not fail
to know, and to remember, what manner of
man he is.
God, who revealed the Scriptures, knew
what was in man. The most artful devices
are ever open to his all-seeing eye. And they
who read his word will often feel this. They
g 2 Cor. x. 12.

Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers only. 327
witt sometimes discover their own thoughts
expressed in the words of Scripture. The
maxims, and precepts, and the descriptions of
sin, come so home to their bosoms, that they
are constrained to confess the truth of the de
lineation; that the word of God is quick and
powerful, and is a discerner of the thoughts
of the heart. Every creature is thus manifest
in the sight of God: "att things are naked
and open unto the eye of him with whom we
have to do :" h and they who study his word
shall obtain from their labours that inestimable
knowledge, an acquaintance with themselves.
But the benefit of continuing to study the
law of God rests not here. Whoso looketh
into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth
to look, that man is blessed in his deed. The
internal influence of religion wUl shew itself
in the uniform tenor of his external conduct
AU his duties witt spring from a high source:
and his behaviour will be consistent through
out. His faith will be displayed in his works:
and by works witt his faith be made perfect.1
Although, therefore, there may be some
uncertainty in determining in any specific case,
to which class of hearers a man may belong;
we are justified in drawing two very important
conclusions. h Heb. iv. 13- ' James ii. 22-

328 Lecture XVII.
The first is, that if any man profess to
be not only a hearer of the word but a doer
of it, and yet live in the practice of known sin,
that man is a deceiver of his own self. True
it is that aU do sin, and come short of the glory
of God — "a just man falleth seven times,'"1
says Solomon: but then by the grace of God
" he riseth up again." He does not allow him
self in the practice of sin. He bewails, and
repents his wickedness. He strives and strug
gles against it. And he knows that if he
fights manfully the fight of faith, he shall not
labour in vain. That with the temptation,
however arduous, however grievous, there wiU
always be some way to escape, that he may
be able to bear it. But the grace of God wttl
not abound, when men continue in sin. What
ever the sin be, however confirmed by habit,
however endeared by circumstances, however
facilitated by the readiness with which it besets
a man, that sin, if persisted in shews that the
sinner is but a forgetful hearer of the word.
Another consequence which flows from the
necessary connection between obedience and
true faith is this. That the action of faith
and practice is reciprocal. As a sincere obe
dience will display itself in a virtuous life^ so
such a life has a tendency to confirm and
k Prov. xxiv. 16".

Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers only. 329
establish a wavering faith. This conclusion is
expressly made in Scripture : " If any man will
do his wiU, he shall know of the doctrine
whether it be of God."1 One main obstacle to
a firm belief is found in the deceitfulness of sin.
A man entangled in the ways of wickedness
soon hopes, and then soon believes, that the
punishment of sin may not be so dreadful, or so
certain, as the Scriptures declare. It is an easy
way to stifle the reproaches of conscience, if a
man can persuade himself that the terrors are
unfounded. Thus the sin, which arose from
unbelief, strengthens the very cause which pro
duced it : and will, if unchecked by the grace
of God, go on, until it hath brought forth
death. "Be ye" then, " doers of the -word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Rest
not satisfied with a partial glance at the perfect
law of liberty. Go not away, and straightway
forget what manner of men ye are. Stoop
down and stedfastly regard, and continue to
study the true portrait of your own minds,
which the Scriptures witt present. So shall
ye, not being forgetful hearers, but doers of
the word, be blessed in your deeds.
1 John vii. 17-

LECTURE XVIII.

ON THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

1 Cor. XV. 14.
If Christ be not raised, then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain.
Xhe attention of the Christian church has
lately* been directed to the important events,
by which our salvation was procured ; the death
of the eternal Son of God for the sins of man.
A pause has been made in the frivolity of
pleasure, and in the tumult of worldly business,
that we might have leisure to concentrate our
thoughts, and fix them upon heavenly things.
We have been called, in the daily service of
our church, to follow our Saviour from one
scene of suffering to another; to witness the
insults and mockery, which he endured; the
persevering cruelty of his enemies ; the timor-
a This Lecture was delivered on Easter Day.

The Resurrection of Christ. 331
ous inconsistency of his judge. We have seen
him betrayed by one of his own chosen apostles;
denied by another ; forsaken by all. We have
witnessed the triumph of the powers of dark
ness: we have seen all nature affected by the
sufferings of her God : the vail of the temple
rent, the earth shaken, the sun darkened by a
preternatural eclipse; until, all having been
accomplished which was written concerning
Christ, he exclaimed, "It is finished;" and
bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
It is impossible that these events should
have been contemplated, without exciting some
feelings of more than usual seriousness. Often
as many around me must have reflected upon
them, they will have found in such meditations
continually some new cause for wonder, some
fresh claim for gratitude.
Having dwelt so long upon the humUiation
of Christ, the church this day celebrates the
first act of his exaltation ; his triumphant resur
rection from the grave, in which it was not
possible he should be retained. However fami
liar the circumstances attending the resurrection
are to our minds, their exceeding importance
must ever render the consideration of them
an employment of the greatest interest to every
Christian : for upon the certainty of that event
depends the truth of the gospel; all sure

332 Lecture XVIII.
knowledge of our own resurrection ; all con
fident expectation of future judgment. " If
Christ be not raised ; then is our preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain."
You will be ready, then, I am persuaded,
to join with me in serious meditation on the
events which we this day commemorate. You
wiU not look for novelty, on a subject, which
has engaged the attention of the Christian world
from the day when our Lord burst the bands
of death, until now. But you will be prepared
to call to mind some of the circumstances, and
some of the consequences, of the resurrection of
Christ. 1. The importance of Christ's resurrection,
in the scheme of the gospel dispensation, appears
from the prominent part, which it occupies, in
the preaching of the Apostles, immediately after
the descent of the Holy Ghost.
As soon as Christ was risen from the dead,
a wondrous change took place in the behaviour
of his disciples. They, who had before forsaken
him and fled, became suddenly the intrepid
preachers of his religion : and the fact of aU
others on which they insisted, as forming the
foundation of their faith, was that the same
Jesus, whom the Jews had crucified and slain,
was raised to life from the dead. This was the
theme of the energetic discourse, which St.

The Resurrection of Christ. 333
Peter defivered immediately after the descent
of the Holy Ghost, on the day of Pentecost;6
and of two addresses," which he soon after made.
This was the fact to which the Apostles all gave
witness with great power.d This was the most
prominent subject — what was delivered " first of
aU"e — in the discourses of St. Paul, whether
to the Jews or Gentiles/ And when an apo
stle was to be added to the number of the eleven,
he was studiously chosen of those which com-
panied with them all the time that the Lord
Jesus went in and out among them, that he
might be a witness with them of his resurrec
tion.6 And with good reason was this fact
thus insisted upon. For it was the fact which
conferred infallible authority upon all the words
and actions of Christ. Long before he came
into the world it was predicted that the Holy
One of God should not see corruption.11 The
resurrection of the Messiah, and the very time
which should elapse between his death and his
rising again, were historically prefigured in the
miraculous preservation of the prophet Jonah.
Jesus, during his ministry, had frequently
uttered predictions of the same import. " De-
b ^cts ii. 24. c Acts iii. 15. x. 40.
d Acts iv. 33. e 1 Cor. xv. 3.
' Acts xiii. 30, 33. xvii. 31. * Acts i. 21, 22.
h Psalm xvi. 10. applied Acts ii. 31.

334 Lecture XVIII.
stroy this temple," said he to the Jews, "and
in three days I will raise it up;" and this "he
spake of the temple of his body."1 As the time
of his sacrifice approached, he expressed him
self still more clearly to his disciples, and to the
world. When, therefore, Jesus by wicked hands
was crucified and slain, then was the period,
at which was to be for ever decided the import
ant question, whether he were the Christ or not.
His enemies were well aware of this : for they
endeavoured, with impotent precaution, to pre
vent the fulfilment of God's designs. " The
chief priests and Pharisees came together unto
Pilate, saying, Sir, we remember that that de
ceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three
days I will rise again." k They demanded, there
fore, a watch ; which they might set over the
sepulchre, to make it as sure as they could.
And this they did; sealing the stone, and setting
a watch. The third day came ; and how was
this question decided ? Two different accounts
are given. The disciples assert that Jesus is
actually risen from the dead; that they have
beheld him, conversed with him, seen him going
in and coming out among them ; shewing him
self alive by many infallible proofs ; performing
miracles, as he was wont; making direct allu-
1 John ii. 19, 21. " Matth. xxvii. 62, 63.

The Resurrection of Christ. 335
sion, in his discourse, to events which had
occurred before his death :] eating and drinking
in their presence : permitting himself even to be
handled and felt, that they might perceive that
it was no phantom which deluded their senses ;
for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as he had.™
The Jews, on the other hand, assert, that the
disciples had stolen him away while the soldiers
slept : that the disciples — so timid that they had
deserted their Lord in his agony — had suddenly
attempted to surprize the strict discipline of the
Roman soldiery, and succeeded in their attempt:
had dared to brave the indignation of their
powerful adversaries ; who yet could at once
have confuted their imposture, had it been such,
by evidence which could not have been gain-
sayed. Here, then, it may be asked, as it has been
often asked, on whose side lies the credulity?
ShaU we believe the testimony of men all con
sistent in their account of an event, which yet
they expected not to occur, before it happened —
for, with att the warning which they had re
ceived, the resurrection in a great measure took
the apostles by surprize— Shall we believe men
standing forth with one voice in the assertion of
a fact, in which they could not be mistaken;
and suffering themselves to be persecuted, and
1 Luke xxiv. .44. m Luke xxiv. 39.

336 Lecture XVIII.
tormented, and put to death, rather than deny
the truth of what they asserted : or shall we give
credit to a tale inconsistent and contradictory :
a tale evidently got up for a specific purpose,
and tacitly abandoned even by those who de
vised it?
But this is not att. After the day of the
resurrection, Jesus continued upon earth. He
was shewed openly, " not to all the people, but
to witnesses chosen before of God.''n " He was
seen of Cephas, then of the twelve : after that
he was seen of above five hundred brethren at
once:"0 of whom the greater part remained for
several years as living witnesses of the fact.
Last of all, he was seen of one who, in conse
quence of that appearance, changed the whole
course of his life ; was converted from a perse
cutor into a most ardent and persevering, yet
judicious, preacher of the gospel. As long as
any of these witnesses survived, so long they
persisted in their assertion. What they had
seen with their eyes, and looked upon, and
known, and their hands had handled,1" that they
declared and attested, through evil report, and
good report ; through pertt, and persecution, and
nakedness, and famine, and the sword.
These facts, which no one dares to dispute,
can be accounted for upon only one supposition ;
" Acts x. 41. ° 1 Cor. xv. 5,6. » 1 John i. 1.

The Resurrection of Christ. 337
that Jesus really did rise from the dead. Allow
the Jews' story to be true. You account for the
disappearance of the body of Jesus : but how
do you account for the sudden change in the
whole manner and disposition of his disciples ?
Whence had those men, before so timid, sud
denly acquired such constancy and courage?
How is it that they, who not long before his
death wished to dissuade their Lord from going
into Judea, because the Jews sought to stone
him,q now themselves braved danger and death,
in defence of that, which was, by this supposi
tion, untrue; and if untrue, must have been
known to be so by them ? On whose side then,
We may ask again, on whose side is the cre
dulity? When we preach the resurrection of Christ,
We have not foUowed cunningly devised fables.
We know and are well assured, that as on this
day " Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh,"
was also " declared to be the Son of God, with
power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead."1
II. But it is not only as an historical fact,
that the resurrection of Christ affects the assu
rance of our faith. It is also most important as
intimately connected with our own resurrection..
i John xi. 8. v Rom. i. 3, 4.
Y

338 Lecture XVIII.
To bring life and immortality to light, was
the great end of the gospel revelation. And
the events of this day having indisputably esta
blished the divine authority of Christ's mission,
thereby placed upon the sure foundation of
truth all that he had ever declared, respecting
the general resurrection. They established, fuUy
and finally, declarations such as these. " I am
the resurrection and the life : he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live :
and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall
never die."8 " The hour is coming, in the which
all that are in the grave shall hear his voice,
and shall come forth : they that have done good
unto the resurrection of life; and they that
have done evil unto the resurrection of damna
tion.'" At the same time, the resurrection of
Christ, by an instance of the most striking kind,
proved it to be no incredible thing that God
should raise the dead. Accordingly, the disci
ples of Christ continually unite, in their dis
courses, the fact of the resurrection of Christ,
with the doctrine of the general resurrection.
The rising of Christ from the dead was not
an isolated miracle of wonder. As it was the
triumphant conclusion of his earthly ministry,
the completion of the prefigurations exhibited
under the patriarchal, and Mosaic dispensations,
s John xi. 25, 26. < John v. 28, 29.

The Resurrection of Christ. 339
and of the prophecies, whether recorded in the
Old Testament, or delivered in the discourses
of our Lord; so it was an example of that
resurrection from death, which every soul of
man shall experience. Not only " is Christ
risen from the dead:" but he is also "be
come the first-fruits of them that slept;"" the
first who so rose from the dead as to die no more,
"death having no more dominion over him:"*
opening the way to the resurrection of life,
unto as many as shall be members of his spi
ritual body ; as the offering of the first-fruits,
under the law, sanctified the whole produce
of the year/ He is " the beginning, the first
born from the dead, that in all things he
might have the pre-eminence."2 "For to this
end Christ both died, and rose, and revived,
that he might be the Lord both of the dead
and living." a
Before the coming of our Lord in the flesh,
even a future life, and much more the resur
rection of the body, were facts, respecting which
a great part of the world was in doubt. They
who studied the Scriptures of the Old Tes
tament might, indeed, collect Sufficient inti
mations to encourage their hopes, upon this
" 1 Cor. xv. 20. * Rom. vi. 9.
y Rom. xi. 16. * Col. i. 18.
a Rom. xiv. 9.
Y 2

340 Lecture XVIII.
important point; but full assurance was still
wanting. That assurance has now been given.
We are told, on the infattible authority of
revelation, that " God hath both raised up the
Lord Jesus : and will also raise us up by his
own power." b We are taught, that the similarity
which existed between the human form, as
sumed by our Lord, and our mortal bodies,
shall be continued, by our being made Uke
unto him. That "he which raised up Jesus,
shall raise us up also by Jesus."0 The resur
rection of Christ is made also the foundation
of accurate reasoning, as well as of express
assertion, to confute those who said that there
was no resurrection of the dead. The apostle
of the Gentiles proves, by a train of argument
most convincing, expressed in language of the
most energetic character, that from the fact
of the resurrection of Christ, that of our own
resurrection necessartty foUows; that the one
cannot subsist without the other; that "if
Christ be not raised, then is our* preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain." He proceeds to
shew, by Ulustrations drawn from the order
of the natural world, how great shaU be the
change which shall take place, when that, which
is sown in corruption, shall be raised in incor-
ruption : when that, which is sown in dishonour,
b 1 Cor. vi. 14. '2 Cor. iv. 14.

The Resurrection of Christ. 341
shall be raised in glory: when that, which is
sown in weakness, shall be raised in power:
when that, which is sown a natural body, shall
be raised a spiritual body.d
It is true, that upon this most awful and
interesting subject, although there is sufficient
to exercise our most ardent faith, and to raise
our desires after a fuller knowledge, there still
remains much of which we must at present
be ignorant. We cannot know clearly — for
we have no experience which can enable us
to judge — in what that change shaU consist,
which at the resurrection shall take place upon
our corporeal frame : how it shall be fitted for
an endless duration, yet preserving its identity.
We know not by what mysterious power the
remains of our mortal bodies, which have
been dispersed by the winds, or dissolved in
the ocean, jor mingled with the dust, shatt
again be united : we cannot conceive how the
bones, which lie " scattered at the grave's mouth,
as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon
the earth,"6 shall come together, bone to his
bone, and be clothed again with flesh, and
covered with skin from above, and be breathed
upon with the breath of life, and those dry
bones shall live/ Such knowledge is too
J 1 Cor. xv. ' Psalm cxli. 7.
f Ezek. xxxvii.

342 Lecture XVIII.
t
wonderful and excettent for us, we cannot
attain unto it. Yet, relying upon the word of
truth, we doubt not that so it shall be. Con
fident in him, who has revealed his word, and
confirmed it by his resurrection, "we look for
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ; who shaU
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned
like unto his glorious body ; according to the
working whereby he is able even to subdue
all things unto himself."8
III. But there is a doctrine, still more
awful, intimately connected with the events
which we this day celebrate, and with the
general resurrection. Mankind will not be
raised from their graves, merely in order to
resume a life, to which the condition of im
mortality wiU be attached : but " that every
one may receive the things done in his body,
according to that he hath done, whether it be
good or bad."h Such was the conclusion which
the Apostle drew from the fact of the resur
rection of Christ. God "hath appointed a
day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness, by that man whom he hath or
dained: whereof he hath given assurance unto
all men, in that he hath raised him from the
dead." *
e Phil. iii. 20, 21. h 2 Cor. v. 10.
* Acts xvii. 31.

The Resurrection of Christ. 343
The awful circumstances of the judgment
to come, and the exceedingly fearful conse
quences to every soul of man, whose state for
aU eternity shall then be finally determined,
are so fully displayed in the New Testament,
are so closely connected with all the facts and
doctrines of the Gospel, that no one can, with
any shew of consistency, assent to the one,
and deny the other. Yet, how many of those,
who declare their full belief in the Scriptures,
live in a practical disregard of the judgment
to come. Did men actually feel the assurance
which they express : did they consider with
their heart, as they confess with their lips,
that in the dispensations of the Almighty, as
declared in his word, the future is as sure as
the past ; they would surely consider their
ways, and return, and live.
Every man, who weighs well the proofs
which establish the historical fact, will acknow
ledge that " the Lord is risen indeed." k Every
man, who has learned to value the Scriptures, so
authenticated, and to rely upon them, as contain
ing the words of infallible truth, will confess that
"God hath appointed a day in the which he
will judge the world." ' How is it then, that
so few of those, who profess the faith of Christ,
live under the continual conviction, that there
k Luke xxiv. 34. ' Acts xvii. 31.

344 Lecture XVIII.
is coming that great and terrible day of the
Lord? If Christianity be true, it is true in
aU its parts. The resurrection of Christ is an
undoubted fact, which rests upon testimony.
The coming of Christ to judgment is another
undoubted fact, which rests upon the authority
of his holy word. Let no Christian, then,
however young and thoughtless, fall into that
deadly error of supposing, that he may, with
impunity, violate the express commands of
God; remembering that, though the young
man may rejoice in his youth, and let his
heart cheer him in the days of his youth, and
may walk in the ways of his heart, and in
the sight of his eyes ; yet, for all these things,
God will bring him into judgment.™
IV. But terrible would be the anticipation
of the least guilty among the sons of men,
if he looked forward to that great day, relying
only upon what he could do for himself. Im
partial self-examination wiU discover, in the
past life of every one, many a folly and many
a sin, for which no repentance, however sin
cere, could, by its inherent efficacy, ever atone:
and when he weighs even himself in the ba
lance, he is conscious that he is found wanting.
But the resurrection of Christ not only gives
assurance of future judgment ; it is closely
m Eccles. xi. 9.

The Resurrection of Christ. 345
connected with the spiritual blessings obtained
to us by his merits. It is connected with
that regeneration, without which our Lord
himself declares no man shall see the kingdom
of God. "Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ," says St. Peter, " which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrec
tion of Jesus Christ from the dead."" It is
closely connected with our justification : for as
Christ " was delivered for our offences," so he
"was raised again for our justification."0 It is,
therefore, immediately connected with our sanc-
tification, through the influence of God's Holy
Spirit : with that purity of life, that willing obe
dience to the precepts of God, by which only
the reality of a saving faith is made known :
that we " may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified
by faith that is in" Christ.p
If we would partake of the benefits which,
as on this day, were assured to mankind, we
must comply with the conditions on which
those benefits are offered. There must, even
in this world, take place in us a death, and
a rising again : a death unto sin, and a rising
again unto righteousness. " Know ye not, that
n 1 Pet. i. 3. ° Rom. iv. 25.
p Acts xxvi. 18.

346 Lecture XVIII.
so many of us as were baptized unto Christy
were baptized into his death? Therefore, we
are buried with him, by baptism, into death,
that, like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life. For, if
we have been planted together in the likeness
of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection." q If the Spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us,
he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall
also quicken our mortal bodies, by his Spirit
that dwelleth in us.1
Consider, then, what responsibility rests
upon us, to avail ourselves of the benefits
which have been assured to us by the resur
rection of Christ. There is required of us the
continual mortifying of all our corrupt affec
tions : a constant struggle with the sin, what
ever it may be, which most easUy besets us.
It is, indeed, an inestimable privilege which
true believers attain by the Gospel dispensa
tion. They are buried with Christ in baptism,
" wherein also they are risen with him, through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath
raised him from the dead."8
But then, how urgent is the appeal which
i Rom. vi. 3—5. ' Rom. viii. 11.
' Col. ii. 12.

The Resurrection of Christ. 347
the Apostle makes to every Christian : and
how difficult the duties which our profession
imposes. "If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set
your affection on things above; not on things
on the earth : for ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God.". . ."Mortify, there
fore, your members which are upon the earth ;
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is
idolatry"... "Put off all these; anger, wrath,
mattce, blasphemy, filthy communication out of
your mouth. Lie not one to another.". . ."Put
on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another,
and forgiving one another, if any- man have
a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave
you, so also do ye. And above aU these
things, put on charity, which is the bond of
perfectness. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to the which also ye are called
in one body, and be ye thankful.'"
When we read precepts such as these, as
the necessary practical results of the events,
which we this day celebrate, we shall surely
feel that, if we have much reason for thank-
1 Col. iii. 1—15.

348 Lecture XVIII.
fulness, we have much reason also for serious
reflection. Our joy will be tempered with
dread. This is peculiarly the day which the
Lord has made: we wiU therefore rejoice and
be glad in it: but we shall rejoice with fear,
and be glad with a holy reverence. Christ
our passover is sacrificed for us ; therefore we
will keep the feast : but we shall keep it, " not
with the old leaven, neither with the leaven
of malice and wickedness: but with the un
leavened bread of sincerity and truth." u We
shall exult in that, " Christ being raised from
the dead, dieth no more:" and shall likewise
reckon ourselves "to be dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord."*
u 1 Cor. v. 7. x Rom. vi. 9, 11.

LECTURE XIX.
THE POWER OF CHRIST IN HEAVEN AND EARTH.

Matt. XXVIII. 18.
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All
power is given unto me, in heaven, and in
earth.
When our Saviour had completed all the
prophecies of the Old Testament, and those
which he had himself delivered, by his resur
rection from the dead, he was seen of his
disciples forty days, and shewed himself alive
by many infallible proofs. ' Some of the deeds,
which he then performed, and some of the
precepts which he delivered, have been record
ed for our instruction ; and their study will
form an appropriate sequel to the reflections
suggested by the resurrection of our Lord.
Among the words which Jesus thus spake,
those in the text are some of the most re
markable. " Jesus came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto me, in heaven

350 Lecture XIX.
and in earth." — No words can be more plain
to be understood than these; and few words
contain more important information. They are
delivered with calm dignity, as by one having
authority. There is no effort, no ambiguity.
Consider who it was who uttered them. It
was no ordinary man. It was not only a
prophet, such as those inspired persons, who
were raised up, from time to time, to declare
the will of God. It was more than a prophet.
It was "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God .... by miracles, and wonders, and signs,
which God did by him in the midst" a of Israel.
It was he, who, "being delivered by the de
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God,"
i
was taken, and by wicked hands was crucified
and slain. It was he, moreover, whom God
had "raised up, having loosed the pains of
death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it."b All that Jesus had ever
said had been accomplished, in his life, and
in his death, and in his rising again. He was
then going in and coming out among his
disciples; satisfying them that it was he him
self, by the very proofs which incredulity
demanded ; eating and drinking in their pre
sence ; still exerting his miraculous power ;
greeting them with the blessings of peace;
* Acts ii. 22. •> Acts ii. 24.

The Power of Christ in Heaven and Earth. 351
opening their understandings, that they might
understand the Scriptures :c declaring that he
would send the promise of the Father upon
them ; which also he did. He it was, who in
the words of truth and soberness declared,
"AU power is given unto me, in heaven and
in earth." I. Now, observe how perfectly this em
phatic declaration agrees with other parts of
Scripture. St. Paul, in his Epistle to the
Philippians, after having expatiated upon the
humility of Christ, who "took upon him the
form of a servant, and was made in the like
ness of men ;" thus declares his glorious exalt
ation. " Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name, which
is above every name; that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow ; of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth ; and that every tongue should con
fess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father.'"1 The same Apostle,
writing to the Ephesians, expresses himself
in terms equaUy decisive. When he raised
Christ from the dead, he " set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places; far above
all principality, and power, and might, and
dominion, and every name that is named, not
¦- Luke xxiv. 45. d Phil. ii. 1, 9, 10, 11.

352 Lecture XIX.
only in this world, but also in that which is
to come; and hath put all things under his
feet."e St. Peter bore testimony to the same
fact: "Him hath God exalted with his right
hand, to be a prince and a Saviour, for to give
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." f
The words, therefore, of Christ, thus con
firmed by other parts of Scripture, must be
understood in their most literal and compre
hensive sense : and they contain two assertions-
The first is, "All power is given unto me in
heaven." 1. The first obvious deduction from this
assertion is, that the person who so spake was
a Divine person. We read in Scripture of
various gradations of heavenly beings; all
created by the Almighty, and all performing •
his will in their several stations. He maketh
his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of
fire.g We read of the angels and archangels;
of the innumerable company of blessed spirits,
who bow down from hour to hour before the
eternal throne. But all these possess no in
trinsic authority. They refused to receive
worship from man, being, only in a higher
degree, the fellow-servants of earthly pro
phets. h And the delusion of worshipping
e Eph. i. 20, 21. f Acts v. 31.
s Psalm civ. 4. h Rev. xxii. S, 9.

The Power of Christ in Heaven and Earth. 353
angels is pointedly condemned in Holy Scrip
ture, as the result of intruding into things,
which no man hath seen.1 But high above
all principalities and powers is seated He, the
ineffable Creator of all things, King of kings,
and Lord of lords : who only hath immor
tality and power. When, therefore, Christ
asserts, that "att power is given unto him in
heaven," he asserts, what is frequently asserted
and implied in other parts of Scripture, that
he and the Father are one. — And it is to be
observed, that this confirmation of the great
fact was given after he had indisputably con
firmed his divine mission, and his truth, by
rising from the dead, and immediately before
his visible ascension into those glories, which
he had with the Father before the world was.
2. Christ being thus truly God, peculiarly
lays claim to almighty power ; all power is
given unto me in heaven.
By him all things were made ; and without
him was not any one thing made, that was
made.k "By him all things consist:"1 for he
upholdeth all things by the word of his
power."1 He possesses all things which the
Father hath.n He is the Lord of all things."
i Q0\ Jj_ 18. k John i. 3. ovhe ev o ytyove.
¦¦ ' Col. i. 17- m Heb- '• 3-
" John xvi. 15. ° Actsx. 36.
Z

354 Lecture XIX.
He is over all things, God blessed for ever/
"angels, and authorities, and powers, being
subjected to him.'"1
These expressions of Holy Scripture are
plain enough to be comprehended, if they be
taken in their obvious, literal sense. AU at
tempts to explain them away, so as to make
them bend to the pre-conceived opinions of hu
man reason, lead only to contradiction. True
it is, they open a great mystery : but why
should it be astonishing, that in a religion,
which is from above, and speaks of such things
as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart
conceived, something should be found which
we cannot entirely comprehend? — Surely it
becomes us, instead of cavilling at the revela
tion which is given us, to meditate with wonder
upon the mercy of God, who hath done so
great things for man : to contemplate with
thankfulness Jesus Christ, who died for us
men and for our salvation, as invested with
supreme power in the highest possible sense;
the Creator, the preserver, the governor, of the
universe. 3. But, further, when Christ declares, "AU
power is given unto me in heaven," he asserts
another fact, very important and most conso
latory to every soul of man. Who that looks
p Rom. ix. 5. i l Pet. iii. 22.

The Power of Christ in Heaven and Earth. 355
forward with trembling hope to those regions
of happiness, which are promised to the faith
ful, can avoid many feelings of anxious dread,
lest he should at last be found a castaway?
In the midst of the most earnest aspirations
after future happiness, we stUl find that the
world, and the things of the world, ding to
the soul, and often distract it. Even when
we feel most convinced of the entire truth
of our religion, how frequently does the secret
delusion of a heart of unbelief betray to us
the weakness of our faUen nature. How fre
quently is the avowal of faith, "Lord, I
befieve," immediately checked and qualified
with the prayer, "help thou mine unbelief."1
There are times, when a man is more than
usually aware of his responsibility; of the
little which he has done, of the greatness of
the duties which he ought to do. — When the
spirit of a man is thus bowed down, the gospel
of Christ speaks peace to him, if he relies upon
its gracious promises. It points to Christ, who
possesses all power, as our prevailing inter
cessor in heaven. It declares, "If any man
sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the
propitiation for our sins."5 It declares, that
Christ " is able also to save them to the
1 Mark ix. 24. s 1 John ii. 1, 2.
Z2

356 Lecture XIX. :
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them.'"
To Christ, therefore, in his divine nature, is1
given all power in heaven : the power and
supreme dominion over all created beings ; and
especially that power, by which he intercedes,
for and saves those who put their trust in him.
II. There are found, however, few, who
disavow the power of Christ in heaven. It is
expressed so fully and so frequently in Scrip-,
ture that they, who would refuse to acknow-,
ledge it, must either deny or pervert the
obvious meaning of the inspired writings.
Accordingly, almost all who speak or think
at all upon the nature of Christ, speak and
think of him as supreme in power, seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high.
But the words which we have been consi
dering contain another assertion : All power is
given unto me in earth. And this is an asser
tion far less regarded in practice; because it
more immediately interferes with the violent
and evil passions of mankind. The duties,
which this power requires of man, are suffici-*
ently plain.
1. He, who has all power in earth, requires
our obedience to his commands, whenever they
are made known to us.
' Heb. vii. 25.

The Power of Christ in Heaven and Earth. 357
Now how is this duty fulfilled? The com
mands of our sovereign Lord have been made
known to us in his Scriptures. They there
stand recorded in words plain and intelligible.
And no one, born in a Christian land, and edu
cated in the Christian faith, can pretend to be
ignorant of them. We have besides all taken
upon ourselves the solemn responsibility of
obeying them, by honouring God's holy name
and his word, and walking in the same all the
days of our life. — StiU, how few display their
sense of the power, which Christ has upon earth,
by obeying uniformly, to the best of their abi
lity, the commands which he has revealed.
These commands are not made the primary
rules by which our lives are usually regulated.
Pleasure, interest, amusement, all claim and
acquire an influence over us, which religion
rarely possesses. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life, all these appear
to possess power on earth; while he, who has
all power, is too frequently forgotten, or neg
lected. Surely this is not the conduct of men
who weigh wisely what they are about to do.
He who has the power on earth has a claim to
worship, honour, obedience.
2. But our Lord demands also our grati
tude, and love. He is not a hard master,
reaping where he hath not sown, and gathering

358 Lecture XIX.
that he hath not strawed. He claims our obe
dience, not only by what he is, but by what he
has done for us. He came down from heaven,
in which he possessed all power, to dweU on
earth, as one of the most humble of its inhabi
tants. He dwelt in meanness, and obscurity;
was subject to privation, and pain ; to ignominy,
to suffering, and to death — He conferred on
every soul of man benefits, which can never be
appreciated ; much less repaid — He rescued every
man, who will repent and believe, from the
worm that dieth not, and the fire which is not
quenched. By his own death he destroyed him
who has the power of death. He therefore
claims our obedience, because he first claims
our love. He who has all power on earth, is
the same who was among mankind as one who
served : who took upon himself the form of a
servant and was made in the likeness of man.
What reason, therefore, have we to regard him
with gratitude and love, not only as our su
preme Lord, but as our Redeemer.
3. The universal power of Christ upon
earth affects us also very materially, by his
being the spiritual head of the church. The
whole collection of believers throughout the
world, however varying in language, and in
some of the outward forms of their religion,
holding one faith, and one baptism ; having one

The Power of Christ in Heaven and Earth. 359
God and Father of all, have also one Lord —
The Scripture represents them as all members of
the spiritual body of Christ. The apostle Paul
thus commands the Ephesians ; Speak the truth
in love " that we may grow up unto him in all
things, wlvich is the head, even Christ, from
whom the whole body fitly joined together, and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the mea
sure of every part, maketh increase of the body,
unto the edifying of itself in love."u He ex
horts them also in these words: "Now, there
fore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God: and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner-stone, in
whom all the building fitly framed together,
groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord ; in
whom ye also are buttded together for an habi
tation of God through the Spirit.""
Now, whUe this doctrine represents in the
clearest point of view the condescension and
mercy of God, it also displays the fearful re
sponsibility of man. We are thus intimately
connected with him who is purity itself. These
our bodies are represented to be the habitation
of that blessed Spirit, who was to be with the
» Ephes. iv. 16, J 7- " Ephes. ii. 19-22,

360 Lecture XIX.
Christian church always, everi unto the end of
the world. What holiness of fife, then, what
purity, what sanctity, is required of those who
profess this faith. " Know ye not," says the
apostle, " that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? If any
man defile the temple of God, him will God
destroy : for the temple of God is holy, which
temple ye are."y In a subsequent part of the
same epistle he repeats the same doctrine, and
founds upon it a specific command. "Know
ye not, that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have
of God : and ye are not your own, for ye are
bought with a price : therefore, glorify God in
your body and in your spirit, which are God's."2
And again, " Ye are the temple of the living
God" — " Having therefore these promises dearly
beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthi-
ness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God."a
When, then, we are tempted to actions of
impurity, let us think upon these things. Let
us remember that Christ himself is the head,
of which all Christians throughout the world
are members: that offences of this nature are
not only the express violation of God's com-
y 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17- z 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.
' 2 Cor. vi. 16. vii. 1.

The Power of Christ in Heaven and Earth. 361
mands, but a defilement of Christ's spiritual
body. There is still one other reflection intimately
connected with the subject before us. When a
man is tempted, let him consider whom he is
tempted to disobey. During the ministry of
Christ, he appeared meek and lowly of heart. He
exhorted, he persuaded, he entreated men to re
pent. Sometimes he would dweU with awful
solemnity upon the terrors of the Lord ; upon
death, and judgment. But more commonly, he
would not break the bruized reed, nor quench the
smoking flax. But when he had completed all
that was given him to do, then shone forth the
dignity of his divine nature. There is some
thing very terrible in the calmness, with which
he declares " all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth." We feel that it is truth —
we know that it is an overwhelming truth. It
sets the seal to all the declarations which Christ
himself had previously made: it shews that
what he had said he is also able to perform.
Consider, then, these words, ye who would
be ashamed of your religion before men:
" Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my
words, in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed,
when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with
the holy angels." b
" Mark viii. 38.

362 Lecture XIX.
Consider this, ye who deny Christ : " Whoso
ever shaU deny me before men, him wiU
I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven."0 Consider this, ye also who have been subject
to privation, or peril, or disgrace, for the sake
of your religion. " There is no man that hath
left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or
children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who
shall not receive manifold more in this present
time, and in the world to come life everlasting.'"1
These are the threatenings, and these the
promises of him, to whom att power is given in
heaven and in earth. They who are wise will
ponder these things ; and they shall understand
the loving-kindness of the Lord.
If we would one day witness the glorious
superiority, which Christ, to whom is given
all power in heaven, exercises at the right hand
of God, we must in this life obey in all humi
lity, and meekness, and purity, the commands of
him, to whom is also given all power upon
earth.
c Matth. x. 33. d Luke xviii. 29, 30.

LECTURE XX.
THE ORIGIN AND DESIGN OF CHRISTIANITY.

Titus II. 11—14.
The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath
appeared unto all men ; Teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ ; Who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity; and purify
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works.
The Epistle of St. Paul to Titus is a model
of earnest and affectionate exhortation. It was
addressed to him, when he had been set over
the Church of Christ, established in the island
of Crete; and contains instructions for his
conduct, while it warns him of many errors,
which had crept into the church. It reminds
him of those, especially, who were introducing
Jewish fables among the worshippers of God*

364 Lecture XX.
and his Christ: and commands him, with the
energy, and seriousness, and fearlessness so
peculiar to St. Paul, to " rebuke them sharply,
that they might be sound in the faith.""
It formed no part, or at least a very subor
dinate part, of St. Paul's intention to give, on
this occasion, a systematic account of the Chris
tian scheme. But it so happens that, under
the influence of the Holy Spirit, while he is
laying down rules of moral conduct to be
observed by all in their different stations, he
displays in few words, with the utmost
precision and clearness, the particulars by which
the dispensation of the Gospel is characterized,
the doctrines which it teaches, the inducements
to obedience which it displays ; and the great
end of its establishment.
A person of our own nation, very eminent
for his attainments and learning, towards the
end of his days declared, that "notwithstanding
he had been so laborious in his enquiries upon
all ancient subjects, yet he could rest his soul
on none save the Scriptures : and above all, that
these very words gave him the most satisfaction,
as comprizing the nature, end, and reward of
true religion."1"
a Tit. i. 13.
b This declaration was made by Selden to Archbishop
Usher. See Watson's Tracts, Vol. I. p. 209. note.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 365
Let us direct our attention to the several
particulars so important and interesting. And
may the same Holy Spirit direct and guide our
hearts, that in pondering upon the word of
truth we may both perceive and know what
things we ought to do, and have grace and
power faithfully to fulfil the same.
I. The inspired apostle, commanding Titus
to exhort even slaves to "adorn the doctrine
of God our Saviour in aU things," supports
his injunction with the assertion, " for the
grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath
appeared unto all men."
In these few words, we are informed of
the origin, the end, and the extent, of the
Christian dispensation.
1. It originated only in the free grace of
the Almighty. Upon this point, respecting
which reason is necessarily silent, the sacred
volume declares expressly, that God hath called
us " according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the
world began."0 This grace of God forms so
prominent a feature in the Christian scheme,
that in some passages of Scripture the term
is used for the doctrines of Christianity .d Thus
the apostle says, " This is the true grace of God
wherein ye stand."6 And, in the text, St. Paul
c 2 Tim. i- 9- d John i. 17- Acts xiii. 43.
' 1 Pet. v. 12.

366 Lecture XX.
is speaking of the Christian dispensation when
he declares, "The grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men."
2. As the Gospel scheme originated in the
grace of God, so it had for its object the
bringing salvation to all men.
The law of Moses was but as a school
master to bring the world to Christianity ; f
leading on the people of the Jews, often with
reluctance, and always with constraint ; hold
ing out to them temporal rewards and punish
ments ; and selecting them from the rest of
the world, to be the depositories of the Scrip
tures of truth, and to perpetuate the race,
from which the Saviour of the world was, in
the fulness of time, to proceed. If one man
had an exclusive creed more than another, it
was the Jew. Separated by their ceremonies,
and rites, and opinions, from all the world,
the children of Israel confined, in idea, the
favour of the Almighty entirely to themselves.
Precisely opposed to this exclusiveness, is
the genius of Christianity ; which is generality.
Salvation has appeared to all men. There is
in Christ Jesus, " neither Greek nor Jew, cir
cumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scy
thian, bond nor free : but Christ is aU, and in
all."g All are made partakers of the same glo
rious privileges. To all are laid open the same
' Gal. iii. 24- * Col. iii. 11.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 367
means of grace ; to all are displayed the same
hopes of glory.
II. The Apostle having thus asserted the
origin and character of the Christian faith, as
"the grace of God that bringeth salvation to
all men," proceeds to give a summary of its
leading precepts, for the regulation of our con
duct in this world: "teaching us that, deny
ing ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world."
Our religion here teaches us at once what
we should avoid, and what we should practise :
to flee from that which is evil ; and to do that
which is good.
1. (1) The first evU, the origin of all others,
is ungodliness. To deny ungodliness is a pre
cept, levelled, not only against those who are
so foolish as to say in their heart, there is no
God ; not only against those, who openly deny
his name, and do despite to his word; not
only against the atheist, and the scoffer, and
the blasphemer: but against all, who encou
rage themselves in sin, by wilfully shutting
out from their thoughts att sense of religion;
and so live as without God in the world ; al
though they may believe, and tremble while
they believe, that he is, and wUl hereafter
avenge himself upon the impious.

368 Lecture XX.
Again, aU infringe this command, who would;
reason themselves out of the terrors of con
science, by endeavouring to set the attributes
of the Most High in opposition to one another
—who delight in representing God only as a
God of mercy, who is not extreme to mark
what is done amiss, neglecting to consider
Him also as a God of justice, who "will by
no means clear the guilty :'"' and this, not
from the errors of a faulty judgment, to
which all are liable, but from the culpable
perversity of a corrupt heart; endeavouring
to draw an argument for continuance in sin
from a misrepresentation, or wilful suppression,
of the word of truth, These, and such as
these, deny not ungodliness, and so far obey
not the maxims, which the Christian religion
was revealed on purpose to teach.
(2) The second evil, which we are required
to deny, are our " worldly lusts."
Pride — that haughty spirit that precedes
a fall — anger, revenge, malice, hatred, envy,
uncharitable discontent at the success of a com
petitor ; the inordinate love of earthly things,
of pleasure, or of fame ; the evil passions and
propensities of our nature ; and " covetousness,
which is idolatry"1 — all these are included in
what we are required by our Christian pro-
h Exod. xxxiv. 7- ' Col. iii. 5.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 369
fession to deny; and which we did promise
and vow at our baptism so to do. — And the
reason given by St. John is express and clear :
" For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever."*
2. But our religion rests not on negative
precepts. It commands us to abstain from
evil : but it also commands us to do that which
is good. It teaches us, that " denying ungod
liness and worldly lusts, we should live so
berly, righteously, and godly, in this present
world." This injunction comprises our duty to our
selves, to our neighbour, and to our God.
(1) We are first taught that we should five
soberly. The primary duty of self-government, ex
ceedingly difficult — for it is a struggle of a
man against himself — is essential to the Chris
tian character. Without it, religion becomes
hypocrisy; and zeal for the glory of God is
continually apt to degenerate into a desire to
promote our own culpable schemes of advance
ment. It includes the regulation of our desires
k 1 John ii. 16, 17-
A A

370 Lecture XX.
— that every man " should know how to pos
sess his vessel in sanctification and honour:"1
that we avoid excess of all kinds : that we
"be not overcharged with surfeiting:""1 that
we "walk honestly, as in the day: not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering
and wantonness.""
It includes, also, the regulation of our
headstrong passions, and unruly tempers— the
subduing of strife and ill-will — those little ani
mosities, which too often embitter the cup of
life, and produce, perhaps, more real misery
than the great calamities of rarer occurrence.
It includes, also, the regulation of our words
and thoughts — that we let no corrupt commu
nication proceed out of our mouth, but that
which is good to the use of edifying : " " nei
ther filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient: but rather giving
of thanks." p
AU these duties are we taught when we
are commanded to " live soberly."
(2) Again, we are taught our duty to our
neighbour — to live righteously, or justly.
Scrupulous honesty in our dealings with
the world cannot, perhaps, in strictness, be pe-
1 1 Thess. iv. 4. m Luke xxi. 34.
n Rom. xiii. 13. ° Ephes. iv. 29.
p Ephes. v. 4.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 371
cuttarly denominated a Christian virtue : because
its importance for the wett-being of society is
so universally felt, that human laws every
where endeavour to enforce it. But, if Chris
tianity be not the first to teach the necessity
of strict integrity, the sanctions, by which it
establishes the duty, are of a higher nature
than any other, and are peculiarly its own.
It commands us to do unto all men as we
would they should do unto us ;q to put in
practice " whatsoever things are just," as well
as "whatsoever things are pure:"r to be re
newed in the spirit of our minds, and to
put on the new man, which, after God, is
created in righteousness and true holiness.8
(3) The last part of our duty, mentioned
by the Apostle, as that which we are especially
taught by the Gospel, is our duty towards
our God ; " that we should live godly in this
present world."
In the full sense of the expression, the
command to " live godly" includes duties of the
very highest nature— those which the Almighty
requires from us as creatures of his hand, as
children of his power, as servants of his wiU.
These duties will be displayed, in the love of
G0(j  leading us to keep his commandments,
< Matt. vii. 12. Luke vi. 31. ' Phil. iv. 8.
' Eph. iv. 23.
AA 2

372 Lecture XX.
and to be careful that, while we love God,
we love our brethren also : in the fear of God,
so pervading our hearts, as to cast out all other
fear : in the faith of God — trusting in his mer
ciful promises, although now we cannot walk
by sight, nor know how the mighty things,
which have been done for man, shall receive
their completion : in reliance upon God — as
the friend of those who diligently seek him:
in resignation to his will — knowing, that "whom
the Lord loveth he chasteneth," ' even as a fa
ther the son in whom he delighteth: in gra
titude to God — for the manifold mercies, which
we are datty and hourly receiving from him ;
for our creation, preservation, and above aU
for our redemption : in humility towards God —
conscious of the exceeding, nay infinite, supe
riority of a God who is "of purer eyes than
to behold evtt,"u and man sinful, and vain;
" deceiving, and being deceived."
Although God seeth not as man seeth ; for
he looks at once upon the heart : yet there
are some external acts, which are the indica
tions to other men of that real piety, which
those must have, who live godly in this present
world. To be constant in the use of public arid
private prayer, to partake of those holy ordi-
1 Heb. xii. 6. u Habak. i. 13.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 373
.nances ordained by God for our growth in
grace, to search the Scriptures, as a rule of
life, sacred and infallible, to honour holy men
and holy things, never to encourage levity of
word and manner in speaking of the Scriptures,
or the works of the Almighty — these are some
of the signs of real piety, seated in the hearts
of those who "five godly." These signs may,
indeed, exist where piety does not : but piety
cannot exist without them.
But godliness consists not solely nor princi
pally in outward acts. Its seat is in the heart.
It is a principle, not often seen, but always
felt : regulating every word, and pervading
every thought. In aU the vicissitudes of life,
in sorrow, and in joy, it sheds its quieting
influence over the soul; it sanctifies affliction;
imparts sobriety to joy ; and changes this world,
fuU of trials as it is, into a temple, in which
the praise of God is continually celebrated.
III. The same Scriptures, which teach the
duties of mankind, display also the motives
of our obedience. They open to us scenes
of eternal glory in the world to come : com
manding us to look "for that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of the great God
and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
1. When we are directed to look to "that
blessed hope," we are encouraged to turn our

374 Lecture XX.
minds with earnestness to that rest for the
people of God, which is the object and end
of their hope.
That holy hope which, together with faith
and charity, is enumerated in the catalogue
of Christian virtues, is far superior to any
which can be fixed upon mere earthly pur
suits. It is superior in its object; being fixed
upon things eternal : while worldly hopes,
however ardent, must be confined to subjects
which soon vanish from before our eyes. It
is superior in its stability ; for it is founded
upon the word of Him who is truth itself.
In the full confidence of this hope, St. Paul
declares, "I know whom I have believed, and
am persuaded, that he is able to keep that
which I have committed to him against that
day."y It is also superior in its operation.
Earthly hope, fixed upon objects which con
tinually disappoint and elude expectation, at
length, by being long deferred, makes the
heart sick.z Heavenly hope exercises a puri
fying influence upon the heart. " Every man
that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself,
even as he is pure."8 The very trials and
troubles of this world are intended to strengthen
in us the principle of heavenly hope : " We
glory in tribulations also ; knowing that tri-
' 2 Tim. i. 12. * Prov. xiii. 12. ' 1 John iii. 3.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 375
bulation worketh patience; and patience, ex
perience; and experience, hope."* And one
principal end of the revelation, which has been
made to the world, was to introduce and
strengthen this confidence : " Whatsoever things
were written aforetime, were written for our
learning ; that we, through patience and com
fort of the Scriptures, might have hope""
2. Another object, for which the Christian
is continuaUy to look, is " the glorious appear
ing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ;" or rather, of Jesus Christ, our great
God and Saviour.
It would be foreign to our present purpose
to discuss the principles, upon which it is
shewn that the two attributes, God, and Sa
viour, are here both predicated of the same
subject, Jesus Christ. They, who are fami
liar with the language in which the New
Testament is written, weU know that the words
of St. Paul imply this meaning."1 We nowhere
" Rom. v. 3, 4. c Rom.^ xy. 4.
d irpoaleyopevoi vrjb uaKapiav i\wiSa, *ai eiri(paveiav Ttjs
16&S Tod p.eyd\ov Qeov Ka\ awTijpos fo*v 'IrjaoS XptaTov.
The article not being repeated before aa>Ttjpos, it is im
possible to understand Oeod and a-wrijpos otherwise than of
one person.— See Middleton, "Doctrine of the Greek Article,"
in locum. In the brief Second Epistle of Peter, there occur three
passages, which, being evidently similar to one another in
construction, illustrate this, and other cases of the same nature. 2 Pet.

376 Lecture XX.
indeed, read that God the Father, who is " in
visible,"6 witt so appear. Whereas the term,
here rendered "appearing,"' always indicates
some coming of Jesus Christ; either his first
coming in the flesh,6 or his future coming to
judge the world.h This, accordingly, is the
interpretation which has been put upon the
words, in the earliest ages of the Christian
church.1 We are, then, commanded to look for the
glorious appearing of our great God and Sa
viour Jesus Christ, as an encouragement to
deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to
live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world.
It is only the true Christian, who can
regard this most solemn of all events with
feelings of delightful, although anxious, expectr
atiort. The preaching of temperance, and right-,
2 Pet. i. 1. 'En SiKaio<7ui/t; tov QeoS tjjiwv Kal a-uiTrjpos
'Irjaov ~X.pt(TTOu.
2 Pet. l. 11. Ei'c . . . . /3a<rt\eiav tov Kvoi'ou ijfiiav koi
&WTtj pOS ltJGOV XflfO"ToD.
2 Pet. 111. 18. ei/ -^aptTi KOt* yvwa-ei tov Kvoioh tjfxtat/ Kal
<r WTrj pos Itja-ov Xoicttou.
The mere comparison of these passages is sufficient to shew>
that only one person is spoken of in the first instance,
as well as in the two last.
e Col. i. 15. 1 Tim. i. 17.
f cTri<pavc'ia. e 2 Tim. i. 10.
h 2 Thess. ii. 8. 1 Tim. vi. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 1, 8.
. See Whitby in locum.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 377
eousness, and judgment to come, made the
profligate Felix tremble upon his throne.k The
denier of God's word, the blasphemer, the
drunkard, the extortioner, the unclean, the
dishonest, wUl find little by which their minds,
in their present state, can be gratified, in learn
ing that God shatt " bring to light the hidden
things of darkness," and "make manifest the
counsels of the hearts:"1 that "we must all
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ;
that every one may receive the things done
in his body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad."ra They "that
are contentious, and do not obey the truth,
but obey unrighteousness," must regard the
appearing of our Lord only as "the day of
wrath, and revelation of the righteous judg
ment of God."D
But "to them, who, by patient continu
ance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour,
and immortality," the final restitution of aU
things affords a subject of encouragement and
hope. With this consolation St. Paul sup
ported himself, even under the apprehension of
immediate death. "I am now ready to be
offered, and the time of my departure is at
hand. I have fought a good fight, I have
k Acts xxiv. 25. ' 1 Cor. iv. 5.
m o Cor. v. 10. " Rom. ii. 5 — 8.

378 Lecture XX.
finished my course ; I have kept the faith.
Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the . right
eous Judge, shall give me at that day ; and
not to me only, but unto all them also that
love his appearing."0 St. Peter, in like man
ner, comforts his converts under their afflic-
tion, by referring them to this final object of
their hope. " Though now for a season, if
need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations ; that the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than, of gold that pe-
risheth, though it be tried with fire, might be
found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at
the appearing of Jesus Christ." p
The Apostle Paul, after informing the
Thessalonians of the circumstances of that
awful day, concludes with the command,
"Wherefore comfort one another with these
words." q And precisely with the same "view,
in the comprehensive scheme which we have
been considering, he represents true Christians
as especially "looking to that blessed hope,
and the glorious appearing of our great God
and Saviour Jesus Christ."
IV. Jesus Christ, for whose glorious ap
pearing we are commanded to look, being truly
0 2 Tim. iv. 8. » 1 Pet. i. 6, 7-
' 1 Thess. iv. IS.

The Origin and Design of Christianity 379
"the great God and our Saviour," how won
derful is the dispensation, which through him
has been revealed to fallen man. He, who
was "in the form of God," and "thought it
not robbery to be equal with God,"r is the
same " who gave himself for us, that he might
redeem us from aU iniquity, and purify unto
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works." 1. All that Christ did and suffered for our
sakes was voluntarily undergone. Throughout
his whole ministry, in his sufferings, and death,
he "gave himself for us." Even the sacrifice
of his life was made by his own wiU. To
Peter, who drew forth his sword in his defence,
he said, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now
pray to my Father, and he shall presently give
me more than twelve legions of angels? But
how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that
thus it must be?" s And, on another occasion,
he declared expressly, " I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh
it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again.'" And this offering of himself
was made for us: "We see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels for the
t pj1j]_ |j_ 5, s Matth. xxvi. 53.
' John x. 17, 18.

380 Lecture XX.
suffering of death, crowned with glory and
honour; that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man."u
2. This voluntary oblation of himself was
made by our Lord, " that he might redeem
us from all iniquity : " that he -might free us
from the guilt of sin, and from the severe
consequences attached to it; from the slavery
of sin in this life,x and not only from temporal,
but from eternal death. " The wages of sin is
death : but the gift of God is eternal life,
through Jesus Christ our Lord."y
The Scripture has included all men under
sin. " By one man, sin entered into the world,
and death by sin : and so death passed upon
att men, for that all have sinned."8 But the
same Scripture declares "as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shaU all be made alive."a
Such was the mercy of Christ, that, while we
were yet sinners, he " gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity."
3. But while Christ has done so much for
man, man is required to do something for
himself; to shew forth the sensible effects of
a holy and religions life. For Christ gave
himself for us, that he might "purify unto
u Heb. ii. 9. * John viii. 34, 36.
y Rom. vi. 23. z Rom. v. 12.
a 1 Cor. xv. 22.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 381
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works." When God had redeemed the people of
Israel from their Egyptian bondage, and dis
tinguished them from the rest of the world
by rites and ordinances of His own appoint
ment, he declared to them, "Now, therefore,
if ye wiU obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure
unto me above all people,""
In allusion to this selection of the Israelites,
the apostle Paul here denominates those who
are true believers in Christ as " a peculiar
people," zealous, not of outward rites and cere
monies, but of good works.
In a subsequent part of his Epistle, St. Paul
again exhorts Titus to set forth the same
doctrine. " This is a faithful saying, and these
things I wiU that thou affirm constantly, that
they which have believed in God might be
careful to maintain good works." c
Works of charity, works of beneficence,
works of holiness, these are the fruits by which
the faith of a man can be made manifest : and
such are the fruits required. After all that
we can do, it is true we are but unprofitable
servants; we can claim nothing as a reward.
But they are the only evidence which we can
* Exod. xix. 5. c Tit. iii. 8.

382 Lecture XX.
give of the reality of our professions: and as
such we are assured they will be mercifuUy ac
cepted by God, through the mediation of Christ.
Since our Lord has given himself for us,
he claims on our part the willing dedication
of ourselves to his service. He claims not
merely our passive abstaining from evil, but
our active exertions to live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world.
Such are the peculiarities of the Christian
faith into which we have all been baptized, and
according to which we all profess to live:
Arising from the free grace of God, and bring
ing salvation to all men — teaching us to flee
from that which is evil, and to cleave to that
which is good — opening to our view the most
glorious prospects, the blessed hope of heaven,
(and the appearing of our great God and
Saviour Jesus Christ — Declaring his wonderful
mercy, in giving himself for us ; and the end
of the commandment, our redemption from aU
iniquity, our purification, and sanctification.
These glad tidings are disclosed to man.
But he is free to accept, or to refuse them. If
he accept them, and persevere in his obedience
unto the end, there is laid up for him " a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous
Judge shall give" him "at that day."d If he
11 2 Tim. iv. 8.

The Origin and Design of Christianity. 383
refuse, upon his own head will the punishment
faU. And how severe that just vengeance wUl
be, the Scriptures declare in language which
we can neither misunderstand nor overlook.
May that God whose mercies are infinite,
and who wills not the death of a sinner, but
rather that he should be converted and five,
so direct and rule our hearts, that we may be
redeemed by the merits of Christ Jesus, and
become purified to him as a peculiar people,
zealous of good works.

APPENDIX.

Note A. Lecture IV. p. 67.
On the change produced in the time of rotation
of a mass, in consequence of its condensation^
or expansion.
The particular instance, adduced in the text for the
sake of illustration, is purposely limited. The conclusion
depends upon these principles.
Suppose a mass M, either rigid or not, to revolve
uniformly about an axis passing through the center of
gravity, with an angular velocity a.
Let m be one particle, at the perpendicular distance
x from the axis of rotation.
Then, if the body be projected upon the plane,
which is perpendicular to the axis, and passes through
the center of gravity,
x a
 = projected area described by m, in an uni£
of time, about the center of gravity ;
.". mx2a = 2 mass x area;
.'. Smx^a = sum of all these products.
Now a is common to the whole mass.
Bb

386 appendix.
And limx1 = moment of inertia of the whole mass,
with respect to the axis of rotation
passing through the center of gravity ;
= Mk* : k being found by the usual pro
cess. See Whewell's Dynamics, Book III. Chap. in.
Now if the same mass be either contracted or ex
panded, and a represent the angular velocity with which
it will then revolve ; and Mk'2 = moment of inertia :
by the principle of conservation of areas,
Mk*a = Mkna ;
*L a
'¦ r ~ a '
And if the original figure of the body be similar to its
figure after the change has taken place, and r, r be radii
of the respective equatoreal sections, which are considered
circular ;

2 72 ,
r k a t
T

k"J a

if t and r are the times of revolution with the angular
velocities a, a, respectively.
If then the Earth were expanded, without altering the
relative arrangement of its particles, until its radius at
the equator were equal to that of the Moon's orbit,
considered circular, the time of its rotation would be about
602,r2 ,
 2 — "ays = 3600 days.

The same conclusion will obtain, if the form of the
A2 r'
revolving mass be altered, provided —f = -^ .

appendix. 387
For instance, if a sphere of uniform density, radius r,
be expanded into a spheroid of uniform density, the radius
of the equatoreal circular section being r.
Since Mk~ is the same for the spheroid, and for a
sphere, the radius of which is equal to the equatoreal
radius of the spheroid, we shall still have
'2 —
r t
If we suppose a small portion, «, to be detached from
the surface of the equator of the revolving mass, M\ and
to continue to revolve uniformly with the angular velocity
a, at the distance r ; either in the manner of a planet,
or as a thin ring; and that the remaining matter N is
condensed into an interior mass, revolving with the an
gular velocity a ;
let M k* = moment of inertia of the whole mass :
N k'2 =  contracted mass.
Then, by the principle of conservation of areas,
Mtfa = Nkma + nr2a ;
.-. Nk'*a = a (Mk2 - »r8)
= a {(N+n)k?-nr*\;

a

e

Ti'if-m.

¦ ' a ~ k" N k
For instance, suppose the Earth to be at present a sphere,
or a spheroid, of uniform density ; the mass of which is
N. And that it had once been expanded so as to form
together with the matter of the Moon, n, another sphere
oApheroid, of uniform density, the radius of which at
the equator, Was equal to that of the Moon's orbit.
B B 2

388 appendix.
Then if r = radius of the Earth ;
r = radius of the Moon's orbit
= 60 r nearly ;

also

k*

- - e

>

k'*

_2 J*
= - . r
5

i

•'•

k*
kn

r*

60*.

r8- k'
-fe5 2
lr>52 r*
— r
5
= -60*
2
and
n
N
10
" 685 ?
•'
aa
= 604-
3
" 5'
685
= 60s.
{-
-1 137'
= 602 :
< .97884
= 3523
.824
the number of days, in which the Earth would have re^
volved together with the Moon, upon this supposition.
If we suppose the Earth, when so expanded, to have
assumed the form of a cylindrical plate, of uniform
density, the radius of which was equal to that of the
Moon's orbit;
APPENDIX. 389

-9
k* = 2

t» r

A'2-? il-
~5-604'
A2 5 „ , J r*-fc* 5 „ t
Y^l-60' a»d -^- = -.60';

- = - . 602
a 4

I 685J

= 60* x 1 .231 
= 4431.6....
We may assume such an arbitrary arrangement of the
particles, as would render true the equation
a =¦ ma,
in a particular instance.
Since MP a = Nk'2a + nr*a;
mMk2 = Nk'2 + mnr';
.: m(N+?i) k1 = M* + mnr*;

: k* = -!—.\-.k"+nA N + n (m J

Thus, assuming the present form of the Earth to be a
r
sphere of uniform density, the radius of which = — ;
£'* = ?. -^, N=685, w=10, w = 27.3,

the sidereal period of the Moon.
1 J685 2
695 127^3 ' 5
1

;, \:,-, i-h + Ar*

. r , nearly.
69 ' J

390 APPENDIX.
If the original form of the mass were nearly spherical,
this would require a nucleus of much greater density
towards the center, than near the surface.
But it surpasses all probability to suppose that there
could have existed, without design, the precise arrange
ment of the particles of a vortex of this nature, which
would have been necessary, in order that the surface of
the Sun's equator should have had the angular velocity
with which the respective planets now move, when it was
expanded so as successively to have been in contact with
them.

Note B. Lecture IV. p. 75.
On the Chronology and Astronomy of the Hindus.
It would be difficult to mention a subject upon which
there exist more various, and indeed contradictory, opinions,
than the Chronology of the Hindus. Sir William Jones
treats their pretensions to extraordinary antiquity, as alto
gether chimerical. " The aggregate of the four first ages
constitutes the extravagant sum of four million three hun
dred and twenty thousand years : which aggregate multi
plied by seventy-one is the period, in which every Menu
is believed to preside over the world. Such a period one
might conceive would have satisfied Archytas, the mea
surer of the sea and earth, aud the numberer of the sands ;
or Archimedes, who invented a notation that was capable
of expressing the number of them. But the compre
hensive mind of an Indian chronologer has no limits : and
the reigns of fourteen Menus are only a single day of
Brahma : fifty of which days have already elapsed, accord
ing to the Hindus, from the time of, the Creation. All
this puerility may be an astronomical riddle." Sir Wil
liam Jones's Works, vol. in. p. 345.
Halhed, in his Preface to the Translation of the Gentoo
Laws, p. 36, after describing the four ages, and assigning

APPENDIX. 391
their respective durations, and the corresponding alteration
in the length of human life, from 100,000 years, to 10,000,
1,000, and finally 100 years, thus expresses himself. " Com
putation is lost, and conjecture overwhelmed, in the attempt
to adjust such astonishing spaces of time to our own con
fined notions of the world's epoch. To such antiquity the
Mosaic creation is but as yesterday ; and to such ages the
life of Methuselah is no more than a span." Still Halhed
seems inclined to give some credit to this extravagant tale;
observing that the duration of life in the third period
corresponds nearly with the longevity of the patriarchal
age. It must be remembered that Halhed was a most
credulous man; and himself furnished a touchstone of his
sagacity. On March 31, 1795, and April 21, of the
same year, he made a speech, in the House of Commons,
in favour of Brothers, a pretended prophet, who was to
restore the Jews. And in a tract which he published as
a " Testimony of the Authenticity of the Prophecies of
Richard Brothers." London, 1795, p. 14, are found
these words ; " I affirm, from my own discoveries, that
the prophet Daniel positively and particularly denounces
annihilation to the British navy, in this war. And on
proof of this proposition, in the course of my Essay, I am
content to rest my whole pretensions to penetration.
AH accounts of Hindu chronology agree in dividing
time into four Yugas, or ages. The first, as such, is
styled Satya Yuga; and when it is regarded as the age
of purity, it is styled the Krita Yuga. The second, in
which one-third of mankind are considered to have been
reprobate, is called the Treta Yuga. The third, in which
one half of the human race became depraved, is deno
minated the Dwapar Yuga. And the fourth, in which all
mankind are corrupted, or lessened, as the term implies,
has the name of Kali Yuga. These divisions are evidently
analogous to the mythological golden, silver, brazen, and
iron ages.

392 APPENDIX,
To these ages, by different writers, different lengths
are assigned. Robertson, (Dissertation on India, Note
lxvii.) mentions the following:
Roger, and Le
Gen til, from the
Brahmins of
the Coroman-
del Coast.

Bernier, from the
Brahmins of
Benares.

Col. Dow.

Halhed,

2,500,000.

14,000,000.

3,200,000.

1,200,000.

1,080,000.

2,400,000.

864,000.

72,000.

1,600,000.

36,000.

400,000.

Satya Yuga . . 1,728,000>'H.
Treta Yuga . .1,296,000.
Dwapar Yuga 864,000.
Kali Yuga 
But the Hindu division of time is still more compli
cated. The following passage is from The Institutes of
Menu, translated by Sir William Jones, in his Treatise on
Hindu Chronology, in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. II.
Art. 7. and also by the Author of " A Key to Hindu
Chronology," Cambridge, 1820, Vol. I. p. 18.
" The Sun causes the division of day and night, which
are of two sorts, those of men, and those of the gods — ?
A month of mortals is a day and night of the Pitris, or
Patriarchs, inhabiting the Moon : and the division of a
month being into equal halves, the bright half is their day,
and the dark half their night. a A year is a day and night
of the gods, or .regents of the universe situated round the
north pole : their day is when the Sun moves to the north
(of the equator): their night, when he moves to the south.
Learn now the duration of a day and night of Brahma,
with that of the ages respectively, and in order. Four
thousand years of the gods sages .call the Krita or Satya
age. The twilight (Sa.ndhi) preceding it consists of as
many hundred years; and the twilight following it of the
same number. In the other three ages, with their twilight

* It would appear that the Hindus, when this scheme was drawn, were
acquainted with the fact that the Moon always turns the same face to the
Eatth.

APPENDIX. 393
preceding and following, are thousands and hundreds di
minished by one. This aggregate of four ages, amounting
to twelve thousand divine years, is called an age of the
gods. And by reckoning a thousand such divine ages, a
day of Brahma may be known. His night has also an
equal duration.
The before mentioned age of the gods, or twelve
thousand of their years, being multiplied by seventy-one,
constitutes what is here called a Manwantara ; (or Men-
wantara, the time, Antara, of a Menu.) There are alter
nate creations and destructions of worlds through innumer
able Manwantaras : the Being supremely desirable performs
all this with as much ease as if in sport, again and again,
for the sake of conferring happiness."
According to this scheme, we have,
The Krita or Satya Yuga = 4000 X 360= 1,440,000 years.
The Sandhi (twilight at the beginning) = 144,000.
Sandhi Ansa (twilight at the end) = 144,000.
Total of Krita Yuga = 1,728,000.
If we call this 4», so that « = 432,000 years;
the three successive ages, Treta, Dwapar, and Kali, will
be 3n, In, n, respectively.
And their sum, lOw, = 12000 x 360 = a Maha Yuga, a
great age, or age of the gods.
And a day of Brahma = 10,000 n, a period which is
also called a Kalpa (form).
A Manwantara = 71 Maha Yugas
= 7 10m.
It must be observed, however, that there are Manwan
taras of different lengths:

394 APPENDIX.
The Puranic Manwantara = 7 10ra = 355 X In.
The Manwantara of Meya =714w = 357 x In.
The prophetic Manwantara = 720m =360 x In.
So that if 2« were taken to represent a day and night, these
periods would respectively represent years of 355, 357,
and 360 days. (Key to Hindu Chronology, Vol. II.
p. 408.) There is also a Maha (great) Manwantara which
= S57 x 2m.
Davis, in the Asiatic Researches, Vol. II. Art. 15.
gives an account of the Hindu Chronology, from the
Surya Siddhanta.b The system may be thus represent
ed. Assuming n, as before, an arbitrary period of 432,000
years, for the length of the Kali Yuga; and 2n, 3n, 4m as
the respective duration of the Dwapar Yuga, Treta Yuga,
and Satya Yuga;
Their sum 10w = a Maha Yuga, or great age.
The Manwantara consists of 71 Maha Yugas, with a
Sandhi, or twilight, equal in duration to An, during which
it is conceived there is an universal deluge.
Hence each Manwantara = 710m + 4m = 714m.
Again the complete Kalpa (form) is composed of 14 Man
wantaras, together with a Sandhi of the same length as the
former, 4m. Hence a Kalpa = 14 Manwantaras + 4m
= 14 x 7^4n+4n
= 1 0,000 m
= 4,320,000,000 years.
>' The word Siddhanta means " A System of Astronomy," As. Res. Vol.
XII. p. 223. Surya means "the Sun.'' Delambre, in his Astronomie
Ancicnne, Liv. ii. Chap. iii. gives an account, in some instances erroneous,
of the Treatise of Davis.

APPENDIX. 395
A Kalpa is further assumed to be only a day of
Brahma;0 and his night is of the same duration. His
year consists of 360 of these days and nights ; and his life
of a hundred of these years.
Hence the life of Brahma, according to their calculation,
= 360x 20,000 x 100 m
= 720,000,000 n
= 310,040,000,000,000 years.
Fifty years of Brahma's life are conceived to have ex
pired. They imagine the Creation to have occupied 47,400
Divine years or 47,400 x 360= 17,064,000 years.
The time which they assume to have elapsed since the
Creation, which took place at the beginning of the Kalpa,
is thus computed. They consider that we are now in the
7th Manwantara, which they call Vaivaswata, sun-born.
That 27 complete Maha Yugas are expired, together with
the Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, and Dwapar Yuga, of the
28th Maha Yuga. Moreover, that 3102 years of the Kali
Yuga had expired at the commencement of the Christian
sera. The whole time therefore will be thus represented,
Sandhi, or twilight, at the beginning of the Kalpa = 4m
6 Manwantaras complete = 6 X 714m ........ = 4284m
27 Maha Yugas of 7th Manwantara  = 270«
Satya Yuga of the 28th Manwantara  = 4 m
Treta Yuga  = 3m
Dwapar Yuga  = 2«
Time from the beginning of the Kalpa to the") _45g-
beginning of the Kali Yuga 3102 b.c j
= 1,972,944,000 yearsd.
« Montucla, Histoire des Mathematiques, Part II. Liv. m. §. 2. assigns
4 320,000 years (10 re) as the length of the day of Brahma, instead of
10,000 «.
'» The time elapsed from the commencement of the current Manwantara
to the beginning of the Kali Yuga = i) n. ^

396 APPENDIX.
In the subsequent part of the paper are stated the
number of revolutions of each planet, of their aphelia,
nodes, &c, in the Kalpa: and an eclipse of the Moon is
calculated according to the principles of the Surya Sidd
hanta. That work purports to be written, according to Davis,
p. 237, at the conclusion of the Satya Yuga.
Since, then, The Treta Yuga = 3 n,
The Dwapar Yuga = 2 m,
Time to the beginning of the Kali Yugaj =5w
3102 B.C. J =2,160,000 years.
Therefore the date of the Surya Siddhanta would be
2,163,102 B.c.e
If, as Bentley asserts, (Hindu Astron. Part II. Sect. n.
p. 116.) the work be considered to have been written at
the commencement of the period Satya Yuga, its antiquity
would be increased 1,728,000 years; and its date would
be 3,891,102 B.C.
These most extravagant pretensions to antiquity for
some time excited little attention. Le Gentil, to whom
the world is indebted for much of its knowledge of Indian
Chronology and Astronomy, (Memoires de l'Academie,
1772 : Voyage dans Les Mers de ITnde,) at first disdained
to interfere with them. This chronological system, how
ever, was intimately connected with Astronomy. And
about the same time that the treatises of Sir William
It is remarkable that if n be taken to represent 100 years, and the dates
from the commencement of the Kali Yuga be reckoned in true years, the
beginning of the Satya Yuga would be placed b. c. 4002. Upon » sup
position of this nature, the author of " A Key to the Chronology of the
Hindus," endeavours to reconcile the apparently extravagant periods of the
Hindus with the Chronology of the Hebrew Bible.
0 In Delambre, Astron. Ancienne, Vol. I. p. 444. The age of the Surya
Siddhanta is said to be 21,648,899 years. This is probably a misprint, for
2,164,899, which agrees with the date above, if computed for A. D. 1797.
It appears doubtful whether this calculation is made for the year 1788 or 1799.

appendix: 397
Jones and Davis were published, and before they were
generally known in Europe, appeared Bailly's elaborate
work, entitled, " Traite de l'Astronomie Indienne et Ori-
entale.' His principal object is to prove, from the
tables of Tirvalour, brought to Europe by Le Gentil, that
the epoch of the Kali Yuga, 3102 b. c. was fixed by
actual astronomical observations ; and that there are re
mains of a state of science in an age of 1200 years preceding
that aera. He takes frequent opportunities of advancing his
favourite theory of a highly cultivated people, inhabiting
the north of Asia, who were the inventors of all arts and
sciences, and, to use the words of d'Alembert, " taught
us every thing, except their name and their existence."
The reality of the observations, by which the epoch of
the Kali Yuga was fixed, has been defended also by
Playfair in the Edinburgh Transactions, 1789.
The impartial Montucla, (Histoire des Matheniatiques,
Part II. Liv. m. §. 2), touches but slightly upon the anti
quity of the sera Kali Yuga ; but leans to the opinion of
Anquetil, that it is, in reality, the aera of the deluge, and
' was communicated to the Indians by the Arabians of the
9th or 10th century of the Christian aera.
Delambre (Astronomie Ancienne, Livre n. Chap, ii.)
gives an Analysis of Bailly's Treatise, and points out the
inconclusiveness of many of his deductions.
Marsden (Phil. Trans. 1790,) Conceives that the sup
posed conjunction was calculated retrospectively.
J. Bentley considered the subject in two papers pub
lished in the 6th and 8th volumes of the Asiatic Re
searches, and concluded that the Surya Siddhanta was not
written till about the year 1000 a. d. In the Edin
burgh Review, vol. x. the accuracy of his conclusions
respecting the recent date of the Surya Siddhanta was
disputed. Bentley was much hurt at the Strictures of the
Reviewer, and in 1825, a little before his death, published
his " Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy, from the

398 appendix.
earliest dawn of that science in India to the present time.'
He there draws conclusions to this effect.
The formation of the lunar mansions, the first au
thentic fact in Hindu Astronomy, took place about 1425
B. c. The solar months were formed about 1181 B.C.
From that time till a.d. 538, Hindu Astronomy was
divided into eight periods, each containing 247 years and
one month : so that the year, at the commencement of
each period, began one month later.
At the beginning of the fifth period, about the year
204 b. c. Hindu history was divided into periods for
astronomical purposes. The data were fixed astrono
mically. The years with which each period was to begin
and end having been previously fixed upon, the inventor
computed the month and Moon's age on the day on which
Jupiter was in conjunction with the Sun, in each year.
From these conjunctions with Jupiter the name Yuga,
conjunction, was given to the periods.
The first period immediately preceeding the time of their
introduction was denominated the. .Kali Yuga,
The second period was denominated... Dwapar Yuga.
The third  Treta Yuga.
The fourth  Krita Yuga.
with this the Creation began.
The end of the Kali Yuga was fixed by a conjunction
of the Sun, Moon, and Jupiter, June 26, 299 B. c. This,
he says, was called Satya Yuga, the true conjunction.
Bentley computed the following table, which shews
that the commencement of these periods was computed
backwards, from about 200 or 300 b. c. He fixes the
commencement of the system to the year 204 b. c. which
is known from other circumstances to have been the com
mencement of the fifth astronomical period.

APPENDIX.

399

Names and Orders of
the four Ages.

Dates.

Error in the Hindu
Tables used.

Krita Yuga or 4th
Treta Yuga or 3rd
Dwapar Yuga or 2nd
Kali Yuga or 1st
End of Kali Yuga

Apr. 19, 2352 b. c.
Oct. 28, 1528 
Sep. 15, 901 
Feb. 8, 540 
June 26, 299 

about 21° 46—
13 1-
6 22-
2 33 —
0 1 +

The gradual diminution of the error shews approxi
mately the epoch at which the system was introduced.
It is very remarkable that the aera thus fixed for the
Creation corresponds with the time assigned to the deluge
by Usher. At a later aera, their history was divided into nine
Manwantaras, or patriarchal periods, the dates being fixed
by the computed conjunctions of Saturn with the Sun, as
the Yugas had been determined by the conjunctions of
Jupiter. The epoch of the Creation was thrown back to
4225 b. c.
The following Table, also computed by Bentley,
shews. the gradually increasing error in the computations
of the Hindus, and gives, approximately, the aera when
the method was introduced.

Patriarchal Periods
or Manwantaras.

Dates.

Errors in
the Tables used.

1st ¦

Oct. 25, 4225. B.C.

30° 58' 42"-'

2

Nov. 13, 3841

28 12 17 —

3

Apr. 11, 3358

24 43 14 -

4

Aug. 29, 2877

21 14 38 —

5

Mar. 25, 2388

17 42 55 -

6

Dec. 23, 2043

15 13 6 —

7

Jul. 2, 1528

11 30 8 -

8

Jan. 8, 1040

7 58 22 —

9

Jul. 28, 555

4 28 28 -

Ended

June 23, 31 a.d.

14 34 -

400 APPENDIX.
The error in the mean annual motion of Saturn was
about 26" + - Therefore the year in which the computed
place of Saturn would agree with the observed place would
be a.d. 64: the aera when this division of the Hindu his
tory was invented.
This division of the Hindu history was, in the year
538 a.d. superseded by that already mentioned, at the
beginning of this note, in which the Creation was thrown
back 1,972,947,102 before the Christian aera. This was
effected by adopting the names of the periods already
known, and uniting them by a dextrous but complicated
combination. The Brahmins first increased the number of Man
wantaras to 14, inserting their dates in the calendar and
other books. (Bentley's Hindu Astron. p. 84.) Now this
increase, it will appear, was necessary to fulfil the con
ditions which they had assumed. These conditions were,
that the length of the Dwapar Yuga, Treta Yuga, and
Krita, or Satya Yuga must be in arithmetical progression,
and equal 2 w, 3 n, 4 n, respectively. And their sum
10 n is a Maha Yuga, or great age.
Also, a certain number (p) of Maha Yugas 4-4 « =
a Manwantara (M), and a certain number (q) of Man
wantaras 4- 4w = Kalpa, which is also to contain a
thousand Maha Yugas, or 10,000 n.
That these conditions may be fulfilled, it is necessary
to find two whole numbers, p and q, which will satisfy
the equations
M = lOpn + 4k;
10,000 n = qM + 4 n.
Hence 10,000ra = q (10p+4) n +4w
= {lOpq + 4(j + l)} n;
.-. I0pq+4(q+l) = 10,000;
.'. (5p + <Z)q = 4,998.

APPENDIX. 401
Now the only whole numbers, which will satisfy this
equation, are
Values of p. Values of (5p + 2). Values of q.
1 7 714
3 17 294
8 42 119
20 102 49
29 147 34
71 357 14
Hence, p being taken =71, and q= 14, the assumed
conditions are fulfilled.
The change, therefore, in the number of Manwantaras,
from 9 to some other number, of which 14 was the nearest
to 9, which Bentley mentions as an historical fact, was
necessary to complete the scheme.
It only remained to assume a value of n, which was
takeu to be 432,000, and the artificial system was com
pleted. Several conjectures, concerning the reasons which
might lead to the selection of the number 432,000, which
is equal to 10 times the product of 360 by 12, may be
found in Sir W. Jones's Treatise on the Chronology of the
Hindus. See also Montucla Histoire des Math6matiques,
Part II. Liv. in. §. 2. Vol. i. p. 429- The cycle
360 X 12 is composed by multiplying the months by the
number of days originally ascribed to the lunar or solar
year. This was the number of days in the Egyptian
year, according to Herodotus : and in the Latin year,
before the correction of it by Numa. The Indians had
a fictitious year of 360 days, used for calculation only ;
on the supposition that the Sun moved through 1° in
a day. Bailly, Astron. Indienne, Preface, p. 9- Davis,
in As. Res. Vol. n. Art. xv. p. 228, says the Maha
Yuga 4,320,000 years, is an anomalistic period of the
Sun and Moon, at the end of which the Moon, with her
apogee and ascending node, is found with the Sun in
the first point of Aries.
Cc

402 APPENDIX.
The author of " A Key to the Chronology of the
Hindus," is of opinion that the vast periods are only
periods of moderate length represented according to the
minute subdivisions of time. The lowest subdivision,
a Matire, being one-tenth part of an English second, the
number 432,000 is the number of Matires in a day of
twelve hours. He conceives also that the different
Manwantaras (see p. 394.) are only year's of different
lengths. But whatever might cause the adoption of this par
ticular base, the Hindus were thus provided with an
abstract chronological system. And it was necessary to
determine the commencement of one of these periods,
in order to connect the system with history: and to frame
an astronomical system, of such a nature that the planetary
motions should begin with the Kalpa.
Accordingly they fixed upon Feb. 18, 3102 b. c.
This they made the commencement of the Kali Yuga
of the 28th Maha Yuga, of the 7th Manwantara. They
assumed, therefore, as has already been seen (p. 395.),
that since the Creation there had already then elapsed
a period of 1,972,944,000 years.
Bentley explains at length (Hindu Astron. Part II.
(). 1.) the different adjustments, which were necessary,
in order to accommodate the astronomical system to
the assumed conditions ; and computes several tables in
order to shew from internal evidence the time at which
the system was introduced. He gives a table, exhibiting
the gradual diminution of the errors in the positions, and
in some of the elements, of the several planets, from the
commencement of the Kali Yuga, to the year 538 of the
Christian aera. The results of that Table, assuming the
accuracy of the calculations, are most satisfactory. For
instance, the errors in the Moon's place gradually di
minish from 8° 55' 33", to 7' 20" : those in the position
of Venus from 34° 10' 37" to 6' 4l". The errors in the.
place of Saturn diminish from 19° 59' 54" to 3d' 24".

APPENDIX. 403
The inspection of this table, combining the results of the
computation for five of the planets, and the Moon, her
apogee, and node, all leading to one conclusion, establishes,
in his opinion, the fact, that the system was invented
about a.d. 538.
The celebrated Surya Siddhanta is shewn, by a
similar method, to have been composed about A. D. 1091.
The remaining part of Bentley's Work contains many
curious particulars, respecting the alterations in the Hindu
Astronomy, which have been since introduced at different
periods. From a comparison of these circumstances, we appear
justified in concluding,
That the chronological periods of the Hindus are
entirely artificial; that, as even their advocates allow, no
astronomical observations are pretended to have been
made, except during a period which may be reduced
within the range of legitimate history, since the deluge :
and that there are very strong reasons for believing that
even these pretended observations are the results of
calculations, principally made since the Christian aera.
Those who wish for information upon this point may
advantageously consult Nare's 5th Bampton Lecture for
1805.

Note C. (D.) Lecture IV. p. 80.
On the Forgeries of the Hindus.
There is a very remarkable paper in the Asiatic
Researches, Vol. viii. p- 245. Art. 7- displaying the in
genuity and audacity of the forgeries which have been
practised by the Brahmins. Even Sir William Jones was
deceived by them. A person waited upon Mr. Bentley,
and told him " that his profession was book-making, and

404 APPENDIX.
that he could forge any book whatever, to answer any
purpose that might be required." (Bentley on Hindu
Astron. p. 194.) The system of forgery in their astro
nomical treatises seems to be openly avowed. Bentley
says that he mentioned to a Hindu Astronomer the circum
stance of names, dates, and astronomical epochs being
arbitrarily given to books. The Hindu acknowledged the
fact, and in defence of it said : " some men make the com
mencement of the Kalpa the epoch from which they direct
the calculations of the planets to be made, for any time
required. Others make choice of the beginning of the
Kali Yuga, for the same purpose. Have we not, there
fore, a right to make choice of any other epoch, as two,
three, or five hundred years, or more, back from our own
times for the like purpose ?'' When asked, whether if
he composed an astronomical work, and placed the epoch,
from which the calculation should proceed, a thousand
years back, he should put his name to it, and own the
work ; he replied that he could do so : but, in such cases,
it was usual to put the name of some ancient sage to it,
or that of some fictitious Astronomer, with an account of
his birth, parentage, and country, in order to give it the
plausible appearance of being ancient and real. See
Bentley's Hindu Astronomy, p. 174, and Note, and p. 185,
(misprinted 181.) Mr. Colebroke found an astronomical
treatise on the shelf of his library, evidently framed for a
particular purpose.

Note D. (E.) Lecture IV. p. 83.
On the astronomical representations discovered
in Egypt.
The astronomical representations which have been
discovered in Egypt, have all been found sculptured or
painted upon the ceilings of buildings very near Thebes.
Those which contain all the signs of the zodiac are four
in number, two at Denderah, (Tentyris), and two at Esne,

APPENDIX. 405
(Latopolis.) They are accurately delineated in the great
work on Egypt, published by the French Government, and
are described in a Memoir by Fourier, Secretary of the
Institute at Cairo. Three of these sculptures are rect
angular, and divided into two parts : the fourth, which
has been transported to Paris, is of a circular form. If
it be allowed that the figures represent the signs of the
zodiac, and that the vernal equinox, at the period when
the sculptures were executed, was in the sign which leads
the procession, it will still be difficult, especially in the
circular sculpture, to determine with any degree of certainty
which sign is in reality the first. And since, when the
vernal equinox had entered a sign, it would continue in it
full two thousand "years, there would be an equal am
biguity in thus determining the antiquity of the sculptures.
Jollois and Devilliers (in a Memoir of the same work,
3"" Livraison, p. 486.) propose the date 2610 b. c. for
the temple of Esn&, among other, conjectures. Burkhart
makes the epoch of the sculptures at Denderah 2200
b. c. and that of the monument at Esne as remote as
5000 b. c. (Description des Pyramides de Ghiz&, p. 119,
referred to by Larcher, Herod. Vol. n. Suppt.)
The temple of Denderah is more recent. Francceur
(Uranologie, Art. 244) supposes 800 b. c. to be an approxi
mate date ; but allows that an error may exist of eleven
or thirteen centuries. Visconti considers the sculpture to
have been executed between the 12th and 120th years of
the Christian aera; See Supplement to Larcher's Hero
dotus, Vol. n. p. 564. edit. 1802. Bentley, in the Ap
pendix to his Treatise on Hindu Astronomy, endeavours
to shew that the two sculptures at Denderah represent a
calendar with the series of festivals for the year of Rome
708. Upon comparing his explanation of the sculptures
with the minute representation of them given in the French
work on Egypt, the differences are found to be so ma
terial especially in the ceiling of the portico, that it is to be
feared he was misled by an inaccurate copy of the sculp
tures. However correct the principle of his interpretation

406 APPENDIX.
may be, this error in his data must considerably diminish
the confidence which can be placed in his conclusion.
The sculptured ceiling of part of the temple of Her-
monthis contains the signs Taurus and Scorpio. And
there is a sixth astronomical representation painted on the
ceiling of a sepulchral apartment at Thebes. There is a
Memoir upon this subject by E. Jomard in the work on
Egypt, (Tom. i. pp. 255, 26 1.) He is of opinion that
the sign Taurus is pointed out as coincident with the vernal
equinox, and Leo as the sign of the summer solstice : and
computes that 1923 b. c. is the latest date which will
answer both conditions : and 3000 b. c. the mean date.
A reference to the Memoir will shew how very uncertain
any conclusion must be, which is formed from such data.
It is to be hoped that the recent advances, which have
been made in the study of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, may
lead to some more accurate knowledge of these curious
vestiges of science.

Note E. (F.) Lecture IV. p. 84.
Notice of the Lfe of Horrox.
Jeremiah Horrox was born in the County of Lancaster
about a.d. 1618: and admitted of Emmanuel College, Cam
bridge, May 18, 1632. In 1633 he began to study Astronomy
at Toxteth near Liverpool. In calculating an ephemeris
from the Lansberg Tables, he observed that they indicated
the apparent latitude of the planet Venus for Nov. 24,
1639, to be less than the semi-diameter of the Sun. The
disappointment of Gassendi in observing the transit of
Venus predicted by Kepler for Dec. 6, 1631, and his want
of confidence in the Lansberg Tables, made him consult
the Tables constructed by Kepler, according to which the
conjunction would happen at 8h lm a.m. at Manchester.
His own corrections induced him to consider 5h 57m p.m.
as the probable instant of conjunction. Not confident,

APPENDIX. 407
however, in the data, upon which his calculation was
founded, he began to observe on the 23rd of November.
His own account of his observation, on Sunday the 24th
of November, is this: " Observavi enim die 24 solis ex-
ortu ad horam usque nonam, item paulo ante decimam
ipsoque demum meridie et hora 1 pomeridiana (ad) 2: aliis
temporibus ad majora avocatus quae utique ob haec parerga
negligi non decuit." "Venus in Sole Visa," published in
Hevelius's, " Mercurius in Sole Visus," 1662 Folio.
It appears he was called away from 9 a.m. to a little
past 10, and again from 2 till a little past 3, to go to church.
On returning at 3h 15m p.m. he observed the planet just
wholly entered upon the Sun's disk. He did not live to
publish his observation. In a letter to his friend Crabtree
dated Oct. 3, 1640, he states that he is about finishing the
account; and in another letter dated Dec. 12, l640,f he
says, "I have changed my 'Venus in Sole Visa' in some
respects, but have not yet leisure to transcribe it. And
if that were done, I do not yet know how I shall contrive
to publish itv." — In Dec. 19, 1640, he again writes, stating (
his intention of visiting his friend, on the 4th of the suc
ceeding January, unless something very remarkable should
happen.8 He died suddenly on the morning of the previous
day, Jan. 3, 174^ : as appears from the endorsement of his
letters, by Crabtree.

Note F. (G.) Lecture IV. p. 85.
On the transits of Venus, hitherto observed.
In a scientific point of view it is curious to notice the
different circumstances, under which the transit of Venus
was observed, in 1639, and in 1761, and 1769- Horrox
and his friend Crabtree were the only two persons who
f Wallis. Horroccii Opera Posthuma, p. 337.
t « Nisi quid prater solitum evenerit."

408 APPENDIX.
observed the first. Previously to the transit in 176lr
Halley had directed the notice of Astronomers to the im
portance of the observation for determining the Sun s
horizontal parallax. And Joseph Delisle published a
work upon the subject. Several months before the transit
happened, Maskelyne was sent from England to St.
Helena, and Mason sailed for Sumatra, Le Gentil went
to India, Chappe to Siberia, Perigre to the island Rodrigue
in the Indian Ocean. Observers were also sent into Lap
land and Norway, and by the Academy of Petersburg to
the borders of Tartary and China. Observations were
made, with different degrees of success, in Siberia, at the
Cape of Good Hope, in the Indian Sea, at Madras, at
Trinquebar, at Pekin, and at St. John's, Newfoundland.
Still more extensive preparations were made for observing
the transit in 1769. From England observers were sent
into North America, to the islands of the South Sea, and to
Madras. From France observers set out for California,
St. Domingo, and the East Indies. From Russia, into
three different places of Russian Lapland, and into Asiatic
Russia, the borders of the Caspian Sea, and other places.
(See Mem. of Acad, of Petersburg, Vol. xiv.) The king
of Denmark sent to Wardhuys, nearly the most northern
extremity of Europe ; and Planman observed at Cajane-
bourg in Finland. (See Montucla Histoire des Mathe-
matiques, Part IV. Liv. v. § 11. Vol. iv. pp. 102, 112.
Mem. de l'Acad. 1771, 1772, 1781, M6m. de Peters-
bourg, 1769.)

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